People v. Anderson
| People v. Anderson | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Court | Supreme Court of California |
| Full case name | The People of the State of California v. Robert Page Anderson |
| Argued | February 18 1972 |
| Citation(s) |
6 Cal |
| Case history | |
| Prior action(s) | Defendant convicted; judgment affirmed, 64 Cal |
| Subsequent action(s) | Certiorari denied, 406 U.S. 958 |
| Holding | |
| The use of capital punishment in the state of California was deemed unconstitutional because it was considered cruel and unusual. | |
| Court membership | |
| Chief Judge | Donald R. Wright |
| Associate Judges | Mathew O. Tobriner, Stanley Mosk, Louis H. Burke, Raymond L. Sullivan, Marshall F. McComb |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Wright, joined by Peters, Tobriner, Mosk, Burke, Sullivan |
| Dissent | McComb |
| Laws applied | |
| Cal. Penal Code §§ 4500, 1239b; California Constitution Article I section 6 | |
|
Superseded by
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|
| California Constitution Article I section 27 (California Proposition 17) | |
The People of the State of California v. Robert Page Anderson, 493 P.2d 880, 6 Cal. 3d 628 (Cal. 1972), was a landmark case in the state of California that outlawed the use of capital punishment. It was subsequently overruled by a state constitutional amendment, called Proposition 17.
The case was an automatic appeal to the court under California Penal Code § 1239b, which provides that in the case of a death sentence, the case is automatically appealed to the State Supreme Court.
Robert Page Anderson was convicted of first degree murder, attempted murder of three men, and first degree robbery. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the lower court in People v. Anderson 64 Cal.2d 633 [51 Cal.Rptr. 238, 414 P.2d 366] (1966), but reversed its decision with respect to the sentence of the death penalty In re Anderson, 69 Cal.2d 613 (1968) following the landmark case, Witherspoon v. Illinois (1968), which decided that it is illegal to remove as challenges for cause a juror who simply disagrees with the death penalty, unless the juror adamantly would not follow the law under any circumstances. The case was retried on the issue of the defendant's penalty, and the jury again returned a verdict of death.
In the original case (1966) the court did not raise the issue as to whether the death penalty was unconstitutional. In the second hearing, which also took place in 1968, the court did raise the issue but decided that the death penalty was neither cruel nor unusual. However, in view of Witherspoon, the court found that the defendant's death sentence was unconstitutionally decided. In this third hearing, the court changed its mind and decided the death penalty was cruel or unusual.
The court ruled that the use of capital punishment was considered impermissible cruel or unusual as it degraded and dehumanized the parties involved. It held that the penalty is "unnecessary to any legitimate goal of the state and [is] incompatible with the dignity of man and the judicial process".
Furthermore, the court also cited the view of capital punishment in American society as one of the most important reasons for its acceptability, contending that a growing population and decreasing amount of executions was persuasive evidence that such a punishment was no longer condoned by the general public.
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