Leland v. Oregon (343 U.S. 790)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 9, 1952 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 343 U.S. 790 · 72 S. Ct. 1002
- Docket
- No. 176
- Argued
- January 29, 1952
- Decided
- June 9, 1952
- Term
- October Term 1951
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Clark
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Minton, Justice Clark (wrote), Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Douglas, Justice Reed
- Dissenting
- Justice Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Black
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Clark delivered the opinion of the Court. Appellant was charged with murder in the first degree. He pleaded not guilty and gave notice of his intention to prove insanity. Upon trial in the Circuit Court of Multnomah County, Oregon, he was found guilty by a jury. In accordance with the jury’s decision not to recommend life imprisonment, appellant received a sentence of death. The Supreme Court of Oregon affirmed. 190 Ore. 598, 227 P. 2d 785. The case is here on appeal. 28 U. S. C. § 1257 (2). Oregon statutes required appellant to prove his insanity beyond a reasonable doubt and made a “morbid propensity” no defense. The principal questions in this appeal are raised by appellant’s contentions that these statutes deprive him of his life and liberty without due process of law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The facts of the crime were revealed by appellant’s confessions, as corroborated by other evidence. He killed a fifteen-year-old girl by striking her over the head several times with a steel bar and stabbing her twice with a hunting knife. Upon being arrested five days later for the theft of an automobile, he asked to talk with a homicide officer, voluntarily confessed the murder, and directed the police to the scene of the crime, where he pointed out the location of the body. On the same day, he signed a full confession and, at his own request, made…
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