The death penalty is an appropriate punishment for a felony murderer who did not intend to cause the death, but was a major participant in the underlying felony and exhibited a reckless indifference to human life. Decided April 21, 1987 (argued November 3, 1986). Opinion of the Court: Sandra Day O'Connor → go there Dissenting: Brennan. Applied: the Eighth Amendment → go there Topic: Capital punishment. Tison v. Arizona, 481 U.S. 137 (1987), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court qualified the rule it set forth in Enmund v. Florida (1982). Just as in Enmund, in Tison the Court applied the proportionality principle to conclude that the death penalty was an appropriate punishment for a felony murderer who was a major participant in the underlying felony and exhibited a reckless indifference to human life. Wiki link