The Case Of Enmund V.

Facts: Earl Enmund along with a codefendant at the Florida Supreme Court, was convicted of first-degree murder and robbery as well as given the death penalty. Enmund was not present at the time of the murder, he was in the car waiting for the codefendant to return in order to escape. Under Florida law Enmund was made the aider and abettor meaning that he can be held to the same extent as the principal.

Issue: Does the death sentence violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment for someone who did not commit the murder but was the getaway driver?

Reasoning:
The evidence that was gathered for this trial does put Earl Enmund in the car by the scene of the crime but does not put him in the exact scene of the crime. The evidence was adequate to find the appealing party was a key of the second degree by helping and abetting the commission of the wrongdoing of burglary. This then supports the verdicts decision of murder in first degree based on the lawful offense.

The court assumed “[t]he recited circumstance, that the murders were especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel, cannot be approved” 399 So. 2d at 1373. The court affirmed with the trial courts that because one of the things they did find was that Earl Enmund did have a big role in the participation of planning the robbery. Yet since he was there at the scene as the getaway driver that therefore he should be found guilty of first-degree