Lockhart, A. L., Director, Arkansas Department of Correction v. Nelson, Johnny Lee (488 U.S. 33)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 14, 1988 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 488 U.S. 33 · 109 S. Ct. 285
- Decided
- November 14, 1988
- Term
- October Term 1988
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Rehnquist
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court. In this case a reviewing court set aside a defendant’s conviction of enhanced sentence because certain evidence was erroneously admitted against him, and further held that the Double Jeopardy Clause forbade the State to retry him as a habitual offender because the remaining evidence adduced at trial was legally insufficient to support a conviction. Nothing in the record suggests any misconduct in the prosecutor’s submission of the evidence. We conclude that in cases such as this, where the evidence offered by the State and admitted by the trial court — whether erroneously or not — would have been sufficient to sustain a guilty verdict, the Double Jeopardy Clause does not preclude retrial. Respondent Johnny Lee Nelson pleaded guilty in Arkansas state court to burglary, a class B felony, and misdemeanor theft. He was sentenced under the State’s habitual criminal statute, which provides that a defendant who is convicted of a class B felony and “who has previously been convicted of. . . [or] found guilty of four [4] or more felonies,” may be sentenced to an enhanced term of imprisonment of between 20 and 40 years. Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41 — 1001(2)(b) (1977) (current version at Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-501 (1987)). To have a convicted defendant’s sentence enhanced under the statute, the State must prove beyond a reasonable…
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