Francois Holloway, Aka Abdu Ali v. United States (526 U.S. 1)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 2, 1999 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 526 U.S. 1 · 119 S. Ct. 966
- Decided
- March 2, 1999
- Term
- October Term 1998
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. Carjacking “with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm” is a federal crime. The question presented in this case is whether that phrase requires the Government to prove that the defendant had an unconditional intent to kill or harm in all events, or whether it merely requires proof of an intent to kill or harm if necessary to effect a carjacking. Most of the judges who have considered the question have concluded, as do we, that Congress intended to criminalize the more typical carjacking carried out by means of a deliberate threat of violence, rather than just the rare case in which the defendant has an unconditional intent to use violence regardless of how the driver responds to his threat. W A jury found petitioner guilty on three counts of car-j'acking, as well as several other offenses related to stealing cars. In each of the carjackings, petitioner and an armed accomplice identified a car that they wanted and followed it until it was parked. The accomplice then approached the driver, produced a gun, and threatened to shoot unless the driver handed over the car keys. The accomplice testified that the plan was to steal the ears without harming the victims, but that he would have used his gun if any of the drivers had given him a “hard time.” App. 52. When one victim hesitated, petitioner punched him in the face,…
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