Rummel v. Estelle
Case Date: 03/14/1980
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Rummel v. Estelle 445 U.S. 263 (1980) is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld a life sentence with the possibility of parole for William James Rummel for a felony fraud crime amounting to $120.75.[1] The ruling upheld a Texas recidivism law requiring a minimum punishment for a third felony offense committed within a fifteen year time span to be life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. [1] On his third offense Rummel refused to return money received as payment for unsatisfactory repairs of an air conditioning unit.[2]. All three of Rummel's crimes were felony fraud, in all totaling about $230.[1]
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