Schriro v. Summerlin
Schriro v. Summerlin | |
---|---|
Subsequent | Summerlin v. Schriro, 427 F.3d 623 |
Holding | |
Ring v. Arizona[1] does not apply retroactively to cases already final on direct review. | |
Court membership | |
| |
Case opinions | |
Majority | Scalia, joined by Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy, Thomas |
Dissent | Breyer, joined by Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg |
Schriro v. Summerlin, 542 U.S. 348 (2004), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that a requirement that a different Supreme Court decision requiring the jury rather than the judge to find aggravating factors would not be applied retroactively.[2]
Facts
In April 1981, Warren Wesley Summerlin killed a creditor who had come to his home in Phoenix, Arizona, to inquire about a debt. He was later convicted of first-degree murder and received a death sentence. Under Arizona law at the time, a jury decided the question of guilt but a judge sitting without a jury decided the question of penalty after receiving evidence regarding aggravating and mitigating factors. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the death sentence. While the appeal in his habeas corpus case was pending in the Ninth Circuit, the Supreme Court decided Ring v. Arizona,[1] which held that such aggravating factors had to be proved to a jury rather than a judge. The Ninth Circuit ruled that the Ring decision applied to Summerlin's case even though Ring was decided after Summerlin's conviction had become final on direct review. The state appealed this decision to the Supreme Court.
Result
The Court, in an opinion by
See also
- List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 542
- List of United States Supreme Court cases
References
Further reading
- Johnson, Marc E. (2005). "Everything Old is New Again: Justice Scalia's Activist Originalism in Schriro v. Summerlin". Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 95 (3): 763–808. ISSN 0091-4169.
- Russell, C. Ryan (2004). "Death Anyways: Federal Habeas Corpus Retroactivity Law and the Decision in Schriro v. Summerlin" (PDF). Oregon Law Review. 83: 1389–1435.
External links
- Text of Schriro v. Summerlin, 542 U.S. 348 (2004) is available from: Findlaw Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)