Tison v. Arizona

Summary

The Court held that the Eighth Amendment does not categorically bar the death penalty for a felony-murder defendant who did not kill or intend to kill, when the defendant was a major participant in the felony and acted with reckless indifference to human life. Arizona improperly equated intent to kill with foreseeability that lethal force might be used, so the judgments were vacated and remanded for a proper determination of reckless indifference. The Court did not decide whether the petitioners actually possessed that mental state.