Bravo-fernandez v. United States
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 29, 2016 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- November 29, 2016
- Docket
- No. 15-537
- Argued
- October 4, 2016
- Term
- October Term 2016
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Ginsburg
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Kennedy, Justice Thomas (wrote a concurrence), Justice Ginsburg (wrote), Justice Breyer, Justice Alito, Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan
Oral argument transcript and advocates
Opinion excerpt
(Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2016 1 Syllabus NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES Syllabus BRAVO-FERNANDEZ ET AL. v. UNITED STATES CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT No. 15–537. Argued October 4, 2016—Decided November 29, 2016 The issue-preclusion component of the Double Jeopardy Clause bars a second contest of an issue of fact or law raised and necessarily re solved by a prior judgment. Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U. S. 436, 443. The burden is on the defendant to demonstrate that the issue he seeks to shield from reconsideration was actually decided by a prior jury’s verdict of acquittal. Schiro v. Farley, 510 U. S. 222, 233. When the same jury returns irreconcilably inconsistent verdicts on the is sue in question, a defendant cannot meet that burden. The acquittal, therefore, gains no preclusive effect regarding the count of conviction. United States v. Powell, 469 U. S. 57, 68–69. Issue preclusion does, however, attend a jury’s verdict of acquittal if the same jury in the same…
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