Baldwin v. Alabama (472 U.S. 372)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 17, 1985 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 472 U.S. 372 · 105 S. Ct. 2727
- Decided
- June 17, 1985
- Term
- October Term 1984
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Blackmun
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court. Between 1976 and 1981, an Alabama statute required a jury that convicted a defendant of any one of a number of specified crimes “with aggravation” to “fix the punishment at death.” Ala. Code § 13-ll-2(a) (1975). The “sentence” imposed by the jury, however, was not dispositive. Instead, “[notwithstanding the fixing of the punishment at death by the jury,” §13-11-4, the trial judge then was to hear evidence of aggravating and mitigating circumstances and, after weighing those circumstances, to sentence the defendant to death or to life imprisonment without parole. This case concerns the constitutionality of the peculiar and unusual requirement of the 1975 Alabama Act that the jury “shall fix the punishment at death,” even though the trial judge is the actual sentencing authority. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the scheme was facially unconstitutional. Ritter v. Smith, 726 F. 2d 1505, 1515-1517, cert. denied, 469 U. S. 869 (1984). Shortly thereafter, however, the Supreme Court of Alabama, with two dissenting votes, ruled to the contrary in the present case. Ex parte Baldwin, 456 So. 2d 129, 138-139 (1984). We granted certiorari to resolve this significant conflict. 469 U. S. 1085 (1984). I A The facts are sordid, but a brief recital of them must be made. Petitioner Brian Keith Baldwin,…
Excerpt of a 56,085-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.