ABSTRACT
In Gregg v. Georgia, the US Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a Georgia death penalty statute that provided for a two-stage process: the first to determine guilt, the second, the punishment. In Furman, the Supreme Court's concern in 1972 was that the death penalty was being applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner because applicable statutes gave juries too much discretion in deciding what sentence to impose. The Furman decision also led to efforts to craft new death penalty statutes that the Supreme Court would uphold. Georgia was one state that enacted a new death penalty statute. Georgia's new statute provided for guided discretion when the jury was to make a decision regarding what sentence to impose in a capital murder case. In Gregg, Troy Gregg challenged the imposition of the death penalty after being found guilty and con-demned to death for killing two men after they had picked him up hitchhiking.
