John Sullivan v. Louisiana (508 U.S. 275)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 1, 1993 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 508 U.S. 275 · 113 S. Ct. 2078
- Decided
- June 1, 1993
- Term
- October Term 1992
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Scalia
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court. The question presented is whether a constitutionally deficient reasonable-doubt instruction may be harmless error. I Petitioner was charged with first-degree murder in the course of committing an armed robbery at a New Orleans bar. His alleged accomplice in the crime, a convicted felon named Michael Hillhouse, testifying at the trial pursuant to a grant of immunity, identified petitioner as the murderer. Although several other people were in the bar at the time of the robbery, only one testified at trial. This witness, who had been unable to identify either Hillhouse or petitioner at a physical lineup, testified that they committed the robbery, and that she saw petitioner hold a gun to the victim’s head. There was other circumstantial evidence supporting the conclusion that petitioner was the triggerman. 596 So. 2d 177, 180-181 (La. 1992). In closing argument, defense counsel argued that there was reasonable doubt as to both the identity of the murderer and his intent. In his instructions to the jury, the trial judge gave a definition of “reasonable doubt” that was, as the State conceded below, essentially identical to the one held unconstitutional in Cage v. Louisiana, 498 U. S. 39 (1990) (per curiam). See 596 So. 2d, at 185, and n. 3. The jury found petitioner guilty of first-degree murder and subsequently recommended that…
Excerpt of a 11,760-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.