Turner v. Murray, Director, Virginia Department of Corrections (476 U.S. 28)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 30, 1986 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 476 U.S. 28 · 106 S. Ct. 1683
- Decided
- April 30, 1986
- Term
- October Term 1985
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice White
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice White announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I and III, and an opinion with respect to Parts II and IV, in which Justice Blackmun, Justice Stevens, and Justice O’Connor join. Petitioner is a black man sentenced to death for the murder of a white storekeeper. The question presented is whether the trial judge committed reversible error at voir dire by refusing petitioner’s request to question prospective jurors on racial prejudice. I On July 12, 1978, petitioner entered a jewelry store in Franklin, Virginia, armed with a sáwed-off shotgun. He demanded that the proprietor, W. Jack Smith, Jr., put jewelry and money from the cash register into some jewelry bags. Smith complied with petitioner’s demand, but triggered a silent alarm, alerting the Police Department. When Alan Bain, a police officer, arrived to inquire about the alarm, petitioner surprised him and forced him to surrender his revolver. Having learned that Smith had triggered a silent alarm, petitioner became agitated. He fired toward the rear wall of the store and stated that if he saw or heard any more police officers, he was going to start killing those in the store. When a police siren sounded, petitioner walked to where Smith was stationed behind a counter and without warning shot him in the head with Bain’s pistol, wounding Smith and causing him to…
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