William Henry Furman was born in 1942 in the United States. His early life was marked by poverty, limited education, and mental health struggles. Furman reportedly had a low IQ and was diagnosed with various psychological issues, which went largely untreated. He had a history of petty crimes and lived in Georgia at the time of the incident that would change both his life and American legal history. By his mid-20s, Furman had developed a reputation for burglary and theft, but no one expected his case would one day reach the highest court in the country.

On the night of August 11, 1967, Furman broke into a home in Savannah, Georgia, intending to commit a burglary. During the break-in, he was discovered by homeowner William Joseph Micke Jr.. Furman fled but, according to court records, accidentally discharged his weapon while running away, killing Micke in the process. He was arrested shortly afterward and charged with felony murder.

Despite his mental health issues and questionable competency, Furman was convicted and sentenced to death. His case gained national attention when it was taken up by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which argued that the death penalty was applied in an arbitrary, inconsistent, and discriminatory manner—especially against Black defendants like Furman.

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty, as it was applied at the time, violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments due to its arbitrary nature. The decision effectively halted executions across the U.S., invalidating hundreds of death sentences and forcing states to revise their laws.

Furman's own death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he was paroled in 1984. After his release, Furman had several minor run-ins with the law but never returned to prison for a major offense.