Enmund v. Florida

Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782 (1982), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court death-penalty decision concerning culpability limits in felony murder death sentences.

Background

The case reached the Supreme Court through a capital prosecution and required the justices to define how constitutional protections apply when a state seeks or carries out a death sentence. It sits within the modern line of cases interpreting the Eighth Amendment and, where relevant, the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Supreme Court ruling

The death penalty was disproportionate for a felony-murder participant who neither killed, attempted to kill, nor intended a killing.

Why it matters

The decision became part of the operating constitutional framework for American capital punishment. Later courts, defense lawyers, prosecutors and corrections agencies have had to account for its rule when evaluating death eligibility, sentencing procedure or execution protocols.

Citation

458 U.S. 782 (1982) — decided 1982-07-02.

Sources

– U.S. Supreme Court — Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782 (1982) (opinion via Justia)