Pulley, Warden v. Harris (465 U.S. 37)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 23, 1984 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 465 U.S. 37 · 104 S. Ct. 871
- Decided
- January 23, 1984
- Term
- October Term 1983
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice White
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice White delivered the opinion of the Court. Respondent Harris was convicted of a capital crime in a California court and was sentenced to death. Along with many other challenges to the conviction and sentence, Harris claimed on appeal that the California capital punishment statute was invalid under the United States Constitution because it failed to require the California Supreme Court to compare Harris’ sentence with the sentences imposed in similar capital cases and thereby to determine whether they were proportionate. Rejecting the constitutional claims by citation to earlier cases, the California Supreme Court affirmed. People v. Harris, 28 Cal. 3d 935, 623 P. 2d 240 (1981). We denied certiorari. 454 U. S. 882 (1981). Harris then sought a writ of habeas corpus in the state courts. He again complained of the failure to provide him with comparative proportionality review. The writ was denied without opinion, and we denied certiorari. Harris v. California, 457 U. S. 1111 (1982). Harris next sought habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, pressing the claim, among others, that he had been denied the comparative proportionality review assertedly required by the United States Constitution. The District Court denied the writ and refused to stay Harris’ execution, but issued a certificate of probable cause. The Court of…
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