Martin Horn, Commissioner, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, et al. v. George E. Banks (536 U.S. 266)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 17, 2002 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 536 U.S. 266 · 122 S. Ct. 2147
- Decided
- June 17, 2002
- Term
- October Term 2001
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit granted respondent federal habeas corpus relief from his death, sentence. 271 F. 3d . 527 (2001). Applying the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) standard of review, the Court of Appeals concluded that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, had unreasonably applied federal law in evaluating respondent’s claim that his penalty phase jury instructions and verdict forms were improper under Mills v. Maryland, 486 U. S. 367 (1988). The Court of Appeals found it unnecessary to evaluate whether Mills applies retroactively to cases on habeas review per Teague v. Lane, 489 U. S. 288 (1989), because the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had not ruled on retroactivity. 271 F. 3d, at 541-543. In avoiding the Teague issue, the Court of Appeals directly contravened Caspari v. Bohlen, 510 U. S. 383 (1994), in which we held that federal courts must address the Teague question when it is properly argued by the government. We thus grant the petition for a writ of certiorari and reverse the Court of Appeals’ determination that a Teague analysis was unnecessary. Respondent, George Banks, was convicted of 12 counts of first-degree murder stemming from a series of shootings on September 25, 1982. During the penalty phase of his trial, the jury was instructed, in part: “The sentence you impose will depend upon your findings…
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