Nevada Prisoner Whose Case Confirmed Unconstitutionality of Mandatory Death Sentences Dies 

Raymond Wallace Shuman (pictured), whose case led to a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming the unconstitutionality of mandatory death sentences, has died in a Nevada prison at age 83. Shuman, one of the longest-incarcerated prisoners in Nevada history, was serving a life sentence for a 1958 murder when he was convicted of killing a fellow prisoner in 1973. At that time, Nevada law mandated the death penalty for life-sentenced prisoners convicted of another first-degree murder. Then, in 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a series of decisions upholding the constitutionality of capital punishment, but overturning mandatory death-penalty statutes in North Carolina and Louisiana. The 1976 cases established an individualized-sentencing requirement pursuant to which no one could be sentenced to death without first having the opportunity to present reasons to spare his or her life. Shortly thereafter, Nevada repealed its mandatory death sentencing law. Shuman, who was the first prisoner to face execution in Nevada after the 1976 rulings, challenged the constitutionality of his sentence as violating the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Nevada Supreme Court upheld Shuman’s death sentence. Shuman’s lawyers then presented the issue to the Nevada federal courts, which declared the state’s mandatory capital-punishment statute unconstitutional. The prosecution appealed, arguing that the Supreme Court’s 1976 decisions had left open the question of whether the death penalty could be mandated in certain extremely narrow classes of cases such as prison killings by life-sentenced prisoners. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the case and, in a 6-3 ruling in Sumner v. Shuman, issued on June 22, 1987, the Court declared the statute unconstitutional. In his opinion for the Court, Justice Harry Blackmun wrote: “Although a sentencing authority may decide that a sanction less than death is not appropriate in a particular case, the fundamental respect for humanity underlying the Eighth Amendment requires that the defendant be able to present any relevant mitigating evidence that could justify a lesser sentence.” That evidence included the nature of the defendant’s prior conviction—Blackmun noted that Shuman had not been the triggerman in the 1958 murder—the defendant’s background, life history, upbringing, and mental health, and any mitigating aspect of the circumstances of the offense. Shuman died around 2:25 p.m. on February 4 at the Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center in Carson City, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections.

(Rio Lacanlale, Inmate who challenged Nevada death penalty law dies at 83, Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 4, 2018; Paul Davenport, Agency: Nevada Inmate Serving 2 Life Terms Dead at Age 83, Associated Press, February 3, 2018.) See U.S. Supreme Court and Sentencing.