Skip to content
Back to judgment

Citation network

Clemons Vs. Mississippi

Cites for this judgment

  • US Supreme Court
  • Mar 28, 1990

Citation network · 7-day free trial

Brief every cited case in minutes

Open an 18-section AI Brief on any citation below, ask scoped follow-ups, and find related precedents with Semantic Search. Full trial - no card required.

  • 18-section brief - facts, issues, ratio, relief
  • Ask this case - answers cite the judgment
  • Semantic search - find precedents by meaning
  • Research drawer - sections, cites, related cases

No card required · credentials emailed · Log in if you already have an account

76 entries 9 linked 67 unlinked
Show
  1. Eddings Vs. Oklahoma US Supreme Court · Jan 19, 1982
  2. Lockett Vs. Ohio US Supreme Court · Jul 03, 1978
    Relied / Followed
  3. Gregg Vs. Georgia US Supreme Court · Jul 02, 1976
  4. Proffitt Vs. Florida US Supreme Court · Jul 02, 1976
  5. Dobbert Vs. Florida US Supreme Court · Jun 17, 1977
  6. Jurek Vs. Texas US Supreme Court · Jul 02, 1976
  7. Maynard Vs. Cartwright US Supreme Court · Jun 06, 1988
  8. Cabana Vs. Bullock US Supreme Court · Jan 22, 1986
  9. Solem Vs. Helm US Supreme Court · Jun 28, 1983
  10. U.S. 738 (1990) U.S. Supreme Court Clemons v. Mississippi
    Search
  11. U.S. 738 (1990) Clemons v. Mississippi
    Search
  12. factor was constitutionally invalid under Maynard v. Cartwright
    Search
  13. the appellate court has invalidated one of two or more aggravating circumstances found by the jury. Cf., e.g., Cabana v. Bullock
    Search
  14. decide for itself whether to affirm the sentence. Cf. Bullock, supra, at 474 U. S. 387 and n. 4. Hicks v. Oklahoma
    Search
  15. and undisturbed aggravating circumstance. Such an automatic rule in a weighing State would be invalid under Lockett v. Ohio
    Search
  16. U. S. 586 , and Eddings v. Oklahoma
    Search
  17. apply harmless-error analysis to the jury's consideration of the invalid aggravating circumstance. See, e.g., Barclay v. Florida
    Search
  18. was constitutionally invalid in light of our decision in Maynard v. Cartwright
    Search
  19. factor, even though Clemons had never raised the issue. The court began by noting that our decision in Maynard v. Cartwright
    Search
  20. that are conscienceless or pitiless and unnecessarily torturous to the victim, id. at 1363 (citing Coleman v. State
    Search
  21. the brutal and torturous facts surrounding the murder of Arthur Shorter . . . it is inescapable that Maynard v. Cartwright
    Search
  22. to uphold a death sentence imposed by a jury that has relied in part on an invalid aggravating circumstance. In Zant v. Stephens
    Search
  23. prerequisite to imposition of such a sentence has been soundly rejected by prior decisions of this Court. Cabana v. Bullock
    Search
  24. U. S. 376 (1986), held that an appellate court can make the findings required by Enmund v. Florida
    Search
  25. U.S. at 474 U. S. 385 . Spaziano v. Florida
    Search
  26. does not require that a jury specify the aggravating factors that permit the imposition of capital punishment, Hildwin v. Florida
    Search
  27. nor does it require jury sentencing, even where the sentence turns on specific findings of fact. McMillan v. Pennsylvania
    Search
  28. circumstance. Capital sentencing proceedings must of course satisfy the dictates of the Due Process Clause, Gardner v. Florida
    Search
  29. findings, speculative appellate findings will not suffice to protect that entitlement for due process purposes. Hicks v. Oklahoma
    Search
  30. U. S. 343 (1980). However, these two general propositions do not lead to the result Clemons seeks. In Hicks v. Oklahoma
    Search
  31. one of the aggravating circumstances on which it had been instructed. In this respect, the case is analogous to Cabana v. Bullock
    Search
  32. decision be based on the facts and circumstances of the defendant, his background, and his crime. See, e.g., Spaziano v. Florida
    Search
  33. emphasized that meaningful appellate review of death sentences promotes reliability and consistency. See, e.g., Gregg v. Georgia
    Search
  34. based on the defendant's circumstances, his background, and the crime. This is surely the import of Cabana v. Bullock
    Search
  35. U. S. 376 (1986), which held that a state appellate court could make the finding that Enmund v. Florida
    Search
  36. of the death penalty, i.e., whether the defendant had killed, attempted to kill, or intended to kill. Wainwright v. Goode
    Search
  37. as we understand the concept. An automatic rule of affirmance in a weighing State would be invalid under Lockett v. Ohio
    Search
  38. U. S. 586 (1978), and Eddings v. Oklahoma
    Search
  39. that would result from actual reweighing of the mix of mitigating factors and aggravating circumstances. Cf. Barclay v. Florida
    Search
  40. purported to rely on the State Supreme Court's reweighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Cf. Cabana v. Bullock
    Search
  41. Court to find that the error which occurred during the sentencing proceeding was harmless. See, e.g., Satterwhite v. Texas
    Search
  42. U. S. 249 (1988). As the plurality in Barclay v. Florida
    Search
  43. standard, see Chapman v. California
    Search
  44. s case, however, we vacate the judgment insofar as it rested on harmless error, and remand for further proceedings. v. Nothing
    Search
  45. appellate courts may face certain difficulties in determining sentencing questions in the first instance. See Caldwell v. Mississippi
    Search
  46. We note also that, although Hicks and a due process rationale were argued by the respondent in Zant v. Stephens
    Search
  47. U. S. 862 (1983), see Brief for Respondent, O.T.1982, No. 81-89, pp. 37-38, and by the dissenters in Barclay v. Florida
    Search
  48. Along similar lines, in Solem v. Helm
    Search
  49. Clemons's argument that the Mississippi Supreme Court's decision to remand to a sentencing jury in Johnson v. State
    Search
  50. cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Page 494 U. S. 756 Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, Gregg v. Georgia
    Search

AI Briefs · Semantic Search · Save & annotate judgments

Start your 7-day free trial