{
  "id": 1627490,
  "name": "Daniel Lon GRAHAM v. STATE of Arkansas",
  "name_abbreviation": "Graham v. State",
  "decision_date": "1972-11-20",
  "docket_number": "5757",
  "first_page": "462",
  "last_page": "464",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "253 Ark. 462"
    },
    {
      "type": "parallel",
      "cite": "486 S.W.2d 678"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ark.",
    "id": 8808,
    "name": "Arkansas Supreme Court"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 34,
    "name_long": "Arkansas",
    "name": "Ark."
  },
  "cites_to": [
    {
      "cite": "408 U.S. 238",
      "category": "reporters:federal",
      "reporter": "U.S.",
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      "weight": 2,
      "year": 1972,
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      ]
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    {
      "cite": "246 Ark. 838",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Ark.",
      "case_ids": [
        1604064
      ],
      "weight": 2,
      "year": 1969,
      "opinion_index": 0,
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        "/ark/246/0838-01"
      ]
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T14:44:30.788798+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "Daniel Lon GRAHAM v. STATE of Arkansas"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Conley Byrd, Justice.\nAppellant Daniel Lon Graham escaped from the pentitentiary while serving a life sentence for kidnapping a banker\u2019s wife. During that escape he robbed a Safeway Store at Springdale and at gun point directed the three store employees to accompany him to a lonely spot on Hickory Creek Road. After forcing the three young men to lie face down in the tall grass, he shot each of them in the back of the head. The jury found him guilty of murder in the first degree for the killing of Gene Allen Franco. Since the jury did not recommend a life sentence pursuant to Ark. Stat. Ann. \u00a7 43-2153 (Repl. 1964), his punishment was fixed at death by electrocution. Appellant\u2019s only contention is that the death sentence coristitutes cruel and unusual punishment.\nBoth the Arkansas Constitution, Art. 2, \u00a7 9 and the U. S. Constitution, Eighth Amendment, prohibit \u201ccruel and unusual punishment.\u201d Under the Arkansas Constitution, the death penalty does not constitute \u201ccruel and unusual punishment.\u201d See Davis v. State, 246 Ark. 838, 440 S.W. 2d 344 (1969). However, the U.S. Supreme Court, as presently constituted, has recently decided that where a jury is permitted to decide between the punishments of life and death, the death penalty constitutes \u201ccruel and unusual punishment\u201d and that such interpretation is applicable to the several states through the Fourteenth Amendment. See Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972).\nSo long as the ruling in Furman v. Georgia, supra, is made applicable to this State, we are obliged to reduce appellant\u2019s sentence from death to life imprisonment as being the next highest available penalty, Ark. Stat. Ann. \u00a7 43-2308 (Repl. 1964). In reducing the penalty, we must recognize that a second life sentence against appellant does not necessarily mean that his punishment will be greater or more severe, nor can we say with certainty that he will be any less likely to escape in the future.\nSince the commitment to be issued by the trial court may effect the appellant\u2019s status as a prisoner we are remanding to the trial court for consideration of consecutive or concurrent sentences.\nAffirmed as modified and remanded.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Conley Byrd, Justice."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "John Lineberger, Public Defender, for appellant.",
      "Ray Thornton, Atty. Gen., by: Henry Ginger, De puty Atty. Gen., for appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "Daniel Lon GRAHAM v. STATE of Arkansas\n5757\n486 S.W. 2d 678\nOpinion delivered November 20, 1972\nJohn Lineberger, Public Defender, for appellant.\nRay Thornton, Atty. Gen., by: Henry Ginger, De puty Atty. Gen., for appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0462-01",
  "first_page_order": 500,
  "last_page_order": 502
}