In ''Coker v. Georgia'', 433 U.S. 584 (1977), the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] held that the [[Eighth Amendment]] prohibited applying the [[death penalty]] for the crime of rape. This decision agreed with a lower court ruling by the Court of Appeals for the [[Fourth Circuit]] nearly a decade earlier in ''Ralph v. Warden'', 438 F.2d 786 (4th Cir. 1970). | In ''Coker v. Georgia'', 433 U.S. 584 (1977), the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] held that the [[Eighth Amendment]] prohibited applying the [[death penalty]] for the crime of rape. This decision agreed with a lower court ruling by the Court of Appeals for the [[Fourth Circuit]] nearly a decade earlier in ''Ralph v. Warden'', 438 F.2d 786 (4th Cir. 1970). |