What is the current state of the law on the use of the death penalty in criminal cases?

20 See, e.g., Harmelin v. Michigan, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 2680, 115 L.Ed.2d 836 (1991) (sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole imposed on a drug offender without prior felony convictions); Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989) (death penalty applied to mentally disabled man).