Law Commons^™

The Peculiar Case Of State V. Terry Lynn Nichols: Are Television Cameras Really Banned From Oklahoma Criminal Proceedings?, Robert D. Nelon

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The truck bomb ripped into A.P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, at 9:02 a.m. One hundred sixty-eight men, women, and children died. None knew Timothy McVeigh or Terry Lynn Nichols, nor did McVeigh and Nichols know them. In fact, Nichols was not even in Oklahoma City when the bombing occurred. He is now--occupying a special cell in the Oklahoma County Jail, awaiting trial on state charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and aiding in placing a bomb near a public building.

Nichols' trip to Oklahoma City was circuitous. Initially, separate federal proceedings against McVeigh and Nichols were …

The Excessive Fines Clause And Punitive. Damages: Some Lessons From History, Calvin R. Massey

Vanderbilt Law Review

Contrary to the notion that the eighth amendment' is confined strictly to criminal cases, the excessive fines clause of the eighth amendment should apply to the imposition of punitive damages and all judicially imposed monetary sanctions in civil cases. Although this view represents a sharp departure from accepted doctrine, this interpretation of the excessive fines clause is consistent with the historical development of the textual antecedents of the eighth amendment,s the political theory that underlies the adoption of the eighth amendment, and the contemporary purposes served by punitive damages themselves. Moreover, this view in noway violates the holdings of those …