The Death Row Inmate Murdered The Same Night Of His Escape

Publish date: 2024-05-07

According to court documents from the Library of Congress, law enforcement officials found the gun used to shoot Fred Simmons and Bob Moore in Troy Leon Gregg's possession. Justia Law notes that Gregg told the authorities that he killed the two men in self-defense. However, Floyd Allen refuted these claims and told the police that Gregg intended to murder the men solely to rob them of their possessions. In the end, Study reports that he was found guilty of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to death, which Gregg and his legal team argued was unacceptable. Oyez states that Gregg believed the death penalty was "cruel and unusual."

Oyez adds that he cited the Eighth and Fourteenth amendments behind his reasoning. Having said that, Gregg's trial occurred not long after Furman v. Georgia. This case decided that the death penalty was indeed "cruel and unusual." The Marshall Project writes that Georgia decided that jurors would have to find "aggravating" factors, amongst other things, in order to sentence an individual to death. Per Oyez, Gregg challenged his verdict, and the case went to the Supreme Court in 1976. Now known as Gregg V. Georgia, a 7-2 decision upheld Gregg's death sentence. (via The New York Times). In Gregg's case, capital punishment was not deemed as "cruel and unusual."

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