some consider the national moratorium to have only ended in 1979 with electrocution of John Spenkelink, who resisted his execution. The July 2 Cases mark the beginning of the United States' modern legal conversation about the death penalty. Major subsequent developments include forbidding the death penalty for rape (Coker v. Georgia, Kennedy v. Louisiana), restricting the death penalty in cases of felony murder (Enmund v. Florida), exempting the mentally handicapped (Atkins v. Virginia) and juvenile murderers (Roper v. Simmons) from the death penalty, removing virtually all limitations on the presentation of mitigating evidence (Lockett v. Ohio, Holmes v. South Carolina), requiring precision in the definition of aggravating factors (Godfrey v. Georgia, Walton v. Arizona), and requiring the jury to decide whether aggravating factors have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt (Ring v. Arizona). Gregg has been described as a "judicial surrender to political pressure". In the wake of the Furman decision, 35 states reenacted death penalty statutes. There was a significant shift in the attitudes towards capital punishment between Furman and Gregg; in 1972, when Furman was decided, public support for the death penalty was around 50 percent. By the time Gregg was decided, a mere four years later in 1976, 66 percent of the public favored capital punishment. See also List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 428 List of landmark court decisions in the United States Notes References External links Gregg v. Georgia from C-SPAN's Landmark Cases: Historic Supreme Court Decisions United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause and death penalty case law Capital punishment in Georgia (U.S. state) Legal history of Georgia (U.S. state) 1976 in United States case law