Tison v. Arizona

SCOTUSCase
Litigants=Tison v. Arizona
ArgueDate=November 3
ArgueYear=1986
DecideDate=April 21
DecideYear=1987
FullName=Raymond and Ricky Tison v. State of Arizona
USVol=481
USPage=137
Citation=
Prior=Convictions affirmed by the Supreme Court of Arizona, 633 P.2d 335 (Ariz. 1981), and denial of post-conviction relief affirmed by the Supreme Court of Arizona, 690 P.2d 747 (Ariz. 1984); cert. granted, 475 U.S. 1010 (1986).
Subsequent=
Holding=The death penalty may be imposed on a felony-murder defendant who was a major participant in the underlying felony and exhibits extreme indifference to human life.
SCOTUS=1986-1987
Majority=O'Connor
JoinMajority=Rehnquist, White, Powell, Scalia
Dissent=Brennan
JoinDissent=Marshall, Blackmun, Stevens
LawsApplied=U.S. Const. amend. VIII

Tison v. Arizona, like "Enmund v. Florida", was a 5-4 decision in which the Court qualified the rule it set forth in "Enmund". Just as in "Enmund", the "Tison" Court applied the proportionality principle to conclude that the death penalty was an appropriate punishment for a felony murderer who was a major participant in the underlying felony and exhibited a reckless indifference to human life.

This case stems from an infamous prison break during the summer of 1978. Gary Tison was serving a life sentence at the Arizona State Prison in Florence for killing a prison guard, his three sons planned to break him and his cellmate, Randall Greenawalt out. On July 30, 1978, they entered the prison with a picnic basket full of guns, locked the visitors in a closet, and freed Gary Tison and Tison's cellmate. The group hid out in an isolated house for two days, and then they made their way toward Flagstaff in a white Lincoln. Along the way, one of the Lincoln's tires blew out, and so the group decided to flag down a car and steal it. Tison's son Raymond flagged down a passing car while the elder Tison, the other two Tison boys Donald and Ricky, and Greenawalt laid in wait. Eventually the Lyons family -- John, Donnelda, two-year-old Christopher and fifteen-year-old Theresa -- stopped to assist.

While Raymond was showing John Lyons the flat tire, the other Tisons and Greenawalt emerged from the brush. Raymond forced the Lyons into the Lincoln, and then he and his brother Donald drove the Lincoln down a service road. Meanwhile, the other Tisons transferred their belongings into the Lyons' car, keeping the Lyons' money and guns. Gary Tison shot out the radiator on the Lincoln, and forced the Lyonses out. John Lyons began begging Gary Tison for his life; Gary Tison mentioned he was "thinking about" killing the Lyonses. Gary told Raymond and Ricky to go back to the Lyons' car and get some water. According to Raymond, while they were gone, Gary started shooting the Lyonses; according to Ricky, the shooting began once they returned with the water. Both agreed that they had returned in time to watch the elder Tison and Greenawalt kill the Lyonses.

Several days later, the Tisons and Greenawalt were apprehended at a police roadblock. A firefight broke out. Donald Tison was killed at the scene; Gary Tison was wounded and escaped into the desert where he later died. The two remaining Tison brothers were later tried individually for capital murder in the deaths of the Lyonses. The murder charges were predicated on Arizona's felony murder statute, which provided that killings that occurred during a robbery or kidnapping were first-degree, death-eligible murder. The Tison brothers were convicted. At a separate sentencing hearing, three aggravating factors were proved -- the Tisons had created a grave risk of death to others, the murders were committed for pecuniary gain, and the murders were especially heinous, cruel, or depraved. The Arizona Supreme Court upheld their death sentences. Then the Supreme Court decided "Enmund". The Tison brothers brought a collateral attack on their sentence, claiming that "Enmund" required their death sentences to be struck down. The Arizona Supreme Court rejected this argument, asserting that the dictates of "Enmund" had been satisfied because the intent requirement of "Enmund" could be inferred from the fact that death was a foreseeable result of participating in a dangerous felony.

Justice O'Connor concluded that the death penalty would be appropriate for a murder like the one the Tisons had been convicted of if it could be shown that the defendant was a major participant in the underlying felony and had acted with reckless indifference to human life.

Later, the death penalties of Ricky and Raymond Tison were reduced to life sentences as they were under 20 at the time of the crime. Greenawalt was executed in 1997.

ee also

*List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 481