Charlotte Jenkins, Warden v. Percy Hutton
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 19, 2017 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- June 19, 2017
- Term
- October Term 2016
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
PER CURIAM. Respondent Percy Hutton accused two friends, Derek Mitchell and Samuel Simmons Jr., of stealing a sewing machine, in which he had hidden $750. Mitchell and Simmons denied the accusation, but Hutton remained suspicious. On the night of September 16, 1985, he lured the pair into his car and, after pointing a gun at each, drove them around town in search of the machine. By night's end, Hutton had recovered his sewing machine, Simmons was in the hospital with two gunshot wounds to the head, and Mitchell was nowhere to be found. Simmons survived, but Mitchell was found dead a few weeks later, also having been shot twice. More than 30 years ago, an Ohio jury convicted Hutton of aggravated murder, attempted murder, and kidnaping. In connection with the aggravated murder conviction, the jury made two additional findings: that Hutton engaged in "a course of conduct involving the ... attempt to kill two or more persons," and that Hutton murdered Mitchell while "committing, attempting to commit, or fleeing immediately after ... kidnapping," Ohio Rev.Code Ann. §§ 2929.04(A)(5), (7) (Lexis 1982). Because of these "aggravating circumstances," Ohio law required that Hutton be sentenced to "death, life imprisonment without parole, [or] life imprisonment with parole eligibility after" no fewer than 20 years in prison. § 2929.03(C)(2). Several days after rendering its verdict, the…
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