Brent Ray Brewer v. Nathaniel Quarterman, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division (550 U.S. 286)

U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 25, 2007 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)

Citation
550 U.S. 286 · 127 S. Ct. 1706
Decided
April 25, 2007
Term
October Term 2006
Vote
5–4
Majority author
Justice Stevens
Issue area
Criminal Procedure
Disposition
Reversed and remanded
Outcome
Petitioning party won
Ideological direction
Liberal
Constitutional ruling
State/territorial law held unconstitutional

Opinion excerpt

127 S. Ct. 1706 (2007) Brent Ray BREWER, Petitioner, v. Nathaniel QUARTERMAN, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division. No. 05-11287. Supreme Court of United States. Argued January 17, 2007. Decided April 25, 2007. *1709 Robert C. Owen, Austin, TX, appointed by this Court, for the Petitioners. Edward L. Marshall, Austin, TX, for the Respondent. Robert C. Owen, Austin, TX, Counsel of Record, Jordan M. Steiker, Austin, TX, Michael D. Samonek, John Thomas Haughton, Denton, TX, John King, Frisco, TX, for Petitioner. Greg Abbott, Attorney General of Texas, Kent C. Sullivan, First Assistant Attorney General, Eric J.R. Nichols, Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice, Gena Bunn, Counsel of Record, Edward L. Marshall, Deputy Chief, Carla E. Eldred, Assistant Attorney General, Austin, Texas, for Respondent. Justice STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court. This is a companion case to Abdul-Kabir v. Quarterman, ___ U.S. ___, 127 S. Ct. 1654 , 167 L. Ed. 2d 585 , 2007 WL 1201582 . Like the petitioner in that case, petitioner Brent Ray Brewer claims that the former Texas capital sentencing statute impermissibly prevented his sentencing jury from giving meaningful consideration to constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence. In Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302 , 109 S. Ct. 2934 , 106 L. Ed. 2d 256 (1989) (Penry I) , we held that jury…

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