It’s cruel and unusual punishment to sentence a 19 year-old to death for murdering a taxi driver.
Because 18 is an arbitrary age.
SANDPOINT – A defense attorney said a man charged with first-degree murder in northern Idaho shouldn’t face the death penalty due to his young age.
The Bonner County Daily Bee reported that attorney R. Keith Roark filed a motion Thursday in 1st District Court on behalf of Jacob Coleman.
Coleman was 19 when authorities say he stabbed to death 22-year-old cab driver Gagandeep Singh in Kootenai in August 2017. Singh had picked him up at the Spokane International Airport and drove him to Idaho. Coleman has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
Roark contends that the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution eliminates the death penalty for Coleman or a life sentence without parole. The 8th Amendment prohibits governments from imposing cruel and unusual punishments.