With what criteria did the court find the death penalty to be valid? with what criteria did the court find the death penalty to be valid?

Gregg v. Georgia was the case (actually several cases, combined) in which the Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to be reinstated. It had been ruled unconstitutionally arbitrary in an earlier decision (Furman.) In Furman the Court had found that there was little consistency in the imposition of the death penalty- that similar cases produced very different results in sentencing. State laws that provided for a two stage trial, one to decide whether the defendant was guilty and the second, to determine whether the sentence could be death. In the second stage, juries were told to weigh aggravating factors against mitigating factors to reach their decision. 

The ceremonial column.