Haley v. Ohio (332 U.S. 596)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 12, 1948 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 332 U.S. 596 · 68 S. Ct. 302
- Decided
- January 12, 1948
- Term
- October Term 1947
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Douglas
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Douglas announced the judgment of the Court and an opinion in which Mr. Justice Black, Mr. Justice Murphy, and Mr. Justice Rutledge join. Petitioner was convicted in an Ohio court of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Court of Appeals of Ohio sustained the judgment of conviction over the objection that the admission of petitioner’s confession at the trial violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. 79 Ohio App. 237. The Ohio Supreme Court, being of the view that no debatable constitutional question was presented, dismissed the appeal. 147 Ohio St. 340. The case is here on a petition for a writ of certiorari which we granted because we had doubts whether the ruling of the court below could be squared with Chambers v. Florida, 309 U. S. 227, Malinski v. New York, 324 U. S. 401, and like cases in this Court. A confectionery store was robbed near midnight on October 14,1945, and William Karam, its owner, was shot. It was the prosecutor’s theory, supported by some evidence which it is unnecessary for us to relate, that petitioner, a Negro boy aged 15, and two others, Willie Lowder, aged 16, and A1 Parks, aged 17, committed the crime, petitioner acting as a lookout. Five days later- — ■ around midnight October 19, 1945 — petitioner was arrested at his home and taken to police headquarters. There is some contrariety in the…
Excerpt of a 55,260-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.