View source for Glass v. Louisiana

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox SCOTUS case
|Litigants=Glass v. Louisiana
|DecideDate=April 29
|DecideYear=1985
|FullName=Jimmy L. Glass v. Louisiana
|USVol=471
|USPage=1080
|ParallelCitations=105 S. Ct. 2159; 85 [[L. Ed. 2d]] 514; 1985 [[U.S. LEXIS]] 1731
|Prior=
|Subsequent=
|Holding=
|Majority=
|JoinMajority=
|Dissent=Brennan
|JoinDissent=Marshall
|LawsApplied=
}}
'''''Glass v. Louisiana''''', 471 U.S. 1080 (1985), was a case denied for hearing by the [[United States Supreme Court]] in 1985. The case is famous for [[William J. Brennan Jr.|Justice Brennan]]'s dissent from the denial of [[certiorari]], joined by [[Thurgood Marshall|Justice Marshall]], arguing that the [[death penalty]] is always [[constitutionality|unconstitutional]].
== Background ==
[[File:AngolaLAPrison.jpg|thumb|[[Louisiana State Penitentiary]], where Glass was confined and executed]]
'''Jimmy L. Glass''' (May 27, 1962 – June 12, 1987) was an American convicted [[murder]]er who was [[capital punishment in the United States|sentenced to death]] by the state of [[Louisiana]].
Glass originally hailed from Arkansas.<ref name="FamilySearch">{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/en/ |title=United States Social Security Death Index: Jimmy L Glass, Jun 1987 |publisher=US Social Security Administration, Death Master File |website=FamilySearch |access-date=May 23, 2020}}</ref> He was a high school dropout and had a criminal record.<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news |title=Murderer of a Couple Executed in Louisiana |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/13/us/murderer-of-a-couple-executed-in-louisiana.html?mtrref=undefined&gwh=0081BC13DF183F6B8C0108FE3A9595F6&gwt |accessdate=July 7, 2019 |work=New York times |date=June 13, 1987 |archive-date=April 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230428020639/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/13/us/murderer-of-a-couple-executed-in-louisiana.html?mtrref=undefined&gwh=0081BC13DF183F6B8C0108FE3A9595F6&gwt |url-status=live }}</ref> With fellow inmate Jimmy C. Wingo (March 14, 1952 – June 16, 1987), Glass escaped from the [[Webster Parish, Louisiana]] Jail in December 1982. During their escape, Glass and Wingo killed Newt Brown (born 1927) and his wife, Erlene Nealy Brown (born 1931), at their home on Christmas Eve in the village of [[Dixie Inn, Louisiana|Dixie Inn]] outside [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]]. The Browns' son, Gary Lamar Brown, was the son-in-law of Judge [[Charles A. Marvin]] (1929–2003) of the [[Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal|Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit]], based in [[Shreveport, Louisiana|Shreveport]]. Glass and Wingo were soon arrested. Both were sentenced to death in the [[electric chair]].<ref name="nytimes"/><ref name="LOUISIANA">{{cite news |title=Louisiana Executes 2d Man In Slaying Of Couple |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/16/us/louisiana-executes-2d-man-in-slaying-of-couple.html?mtrref=undefined&gwh=118AF68A3689DD9A7F9BF69284199BE3&gwt |accessdate=7 July 2019 |work=New York Times |date=16 June 1987 |archive-date=28 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230428020639/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/16/us/louisiana-executes-2d-man-in-slaying-of-couple.html?mtrref=undefined&gwh=118AF68A3689DD9A7F9BF69284199BE3&gwt |url-status=live }}</ref>
According to then-current Louisiana law, the only authorized method of execution was the [[electric chair]]. Glass and his [[lawyer]]s argued that executions by [[electric chair|electrocution]] violate the [[Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighth]] and [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth]] Amendments to the [[United States Constitution]], because ''causing to pass through the body of the person convicted a current of electricity of sufficient intensity to cause death, and the application and continuance of such current through the body of the person convicted until such person is dead'' and ''electrocution causes the gratuitous infliction of unnecessary pain and suffering and does not comport with evolving standards of human dignity''.
== Opinion of the Court ==
The court denied [[certiorari]], thereby allowing the lower court's decision to stand.
Justice [[William J. Brennan]] (joined by Justice [[Thurgood Marshall]]) dissented from the denial of certiorari. In his dissent, Brennan reiterated his "belief that the 'physical and mental suffering' inherent in any method of execution is so 'uniquely degrading to human dignity' that, when combined with the arbitrariness by which capital punishment is imposed, the trend of enlightened opinion, and the availability of less severe penological alternatives, the death penalty is always unconstitutional."
Brennan's dissent is known for its gruesome depiction of electrocution:
"Th[e] evidence suggests that death by electric current is extremely violent and inflicts pain and indignities far beyond the 'mere extinguishment of life.' Witnesses routinely report that, when the switch is thrown, the condemned prisoner 'cringes,' 'leaps,' and 'fights the straps with amazing strength.' 'The hands turn red, then white, and the cords of the neck stand out like steel bands.' The prisoner's limbs, fingers, toes, and face are severely contorted. The force of the electric current is so powerful that the prisoner's eyeballs sometimes pop out and 'rest on [his] cheeks.' The prisoner often defecates, urinates, and vomits blood and drool."<ref name="web.archive.org">{{cite web |url=http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?&did=2134 |title=Execution News and Developments: 2004 - 1998 |website=deathpenaltyinfo.org |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071103035125/http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?&did=2134 |archive-date=3 November 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Brennan also concluded that electrocution is "nothing less than the contemporary technological equivalent of burning people at the stake."<ref name="web.archive.org"/>
== Subsequent developments ==
The Court, by majority 5–4, found that electrocution as an authorized method of executions is constitutional.<ref name="Cornell">{{cite web |title=Jimmy L. Glass v. Louisiana |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/471/1080 |website=Law.Cornell |publisher=Cornell Law School |accessdate=7 July 2019 |archive-date=7 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707003849/https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/471/1080 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Glass was electrocuted on June 12, 1987, at the age of twenty-five.<ref name="Palmer">{{cite book |last1=Palmer, Jr. |first1=Louis J. |title=Encyclopedia of Capital Punishment in the United States, 2d ed. |date=2008 |publisher=McFarland and Company Inc |page=352}}</ref> His accomplice, Jimmy Wingo, was executed four days later, on June 16, 1987.<ref name="LOUISIANA"/>
It was said that Glass was grinning as he was confined in the electric chair. His last words  were "I'd rather be fishing".<ref name="nytimes"/>
Despite the failure of ''Glass v. Louisiana'', electrocution has now been retired as a method of execution in most US states and none of the states retaining it uses it as their primary execution method.
== See also ==
* [[Capital punishment in Louisiana]]
* [[Capital punishment in the United States]]
* [[List of people executed in Louisiana]]
==References==
'''General'''
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170901092417/http://mindenmemories.org/Dixie%20Inn%20-%20McIntyre.htm Copies of several newspaper articles]}}. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
* [http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=466 Executions in the U.S. from 1987-1990] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713082859/http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=466 |date=July 13, 2007 }}. ''Death Penalty Information Center''. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
* [http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/usexecute.htm U.S. Executions Since 1976]. ''The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney''. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
'''Specific'''
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{caselaw source
| case = ''Glass v. Louisiana'', {{Ussc|471|1080|1985|el=no}}
| justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/471/1080/
}}
[[Category:Capital punishment in Louisiana]]
[[Category:Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause and death penalty case law]]
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases]]
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court]]
[[Category:1985 in Louisiana]]
[[Category:1985 in United States case law]]