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the way they had been imposed constituted cruel and unusual punishment. (The ruling prompted states to effectively impose a moratorium on executions until their capital punishment laws could be revised.)
• In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Morrison v. Olson, upheld the independent counsel law in a 7-1 decision (the sole dissenter was Justice Antonin Scalia).
• In 1993, Joel Rifkin pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in Mineola, N.Y., to one count of murder, a day after police found a woman's body in his pickup truck. (Rifkin, who has confessed to killing 17 women, is serving multiple life sentences for nine murders.)
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• Ten years ago: Thirteen people were killed, dozens injured, when a third-floor apartment building porch crowded with guests collapsed onto porches below during a party in Chicago. Actress Katharine Hepburn, one of the last stars from Hollywood's Golden Age, died in Old Saybrook, Conn., at age 96.
• Five years ago: Zimbabwe's longtime ruler Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president for a sixth term after a widely discredited runoff in which he was the only candidate. Two weeks away from her 20th birthday, Inbee Park became the youngest winner of the U.S. Women's Open by closing with a 2-under 71 at Interlachen in Edina, Minn. Spain won the European Championship 1-0 over Germany for its first major title in 44 years.
• One year ago: A day after the House voted to find Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, the Justice Department said Holder's decision to withhold information about a bungled gun-tracking operation from Congress did not constitute a crime, and that he would not be prosecuted. The younger brother and business partner of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to charges he'd doctored documents for years, but Peter Madoff insisted he knew nothing about his brother's massive Ponzi scheme. (Peter Madoff was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.) The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency filed formal charges against Lance Armstrong, accusing the seven-time Tour de France winner of using performance-enhancing drugs throughout the best years of his career. (The USADA ended up stripping Armstrong of all his Tour de France titles and issued a lifetime ban from cycling.)
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• Today's Birthdays: Movie producer Robert Evans is 83. Songwriter L. Russell Brown is 73. Actor Gary Busey is 69. Comedian Richard Lewis is 66. Actor-turned-politican-turned-radio personality Fred Grandy is 65. Rock musician Ian Paice (Deep Purple) is 65. Singer Don Dokken (Dokken) is 60. Rock singer Colin Hay (Men At

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