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Beck v. Washington, 369 U.S. 541 (1962)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
Beck v. Washington, 369 U.S. 541 (1962)
Beck v. Washington No. 40 Argued November 14, 1961 Decided May 14, 1962 369 U.S. 541
CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF WASHINGTON
Syllabus
Petitioner contended that his conviction in a Washington State court of grand larceny from the union of which he was president was invalid under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, primarily because of voluminous and intensive adverse publicity circulated by news media in the vicinity where he was indicted and tried. Specifically, he claimed that the grand jury which indicted him was biased, that it was unfairly impaneled and instructed, and that the prosecutor acted improperly before it.
Held: on the record in this case, petitioner has failed to sustain the burden of showing that his indictment, trial and conviction violated the Due Process or Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pp. 542-558.
1. Petitioner has failed to show that the grand jury proceedings which resulted in his indictment violated the Due Process or Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pp. 545-555.
(a) Petitioner has failed to show that the grand jury which indicted him was unfairly impaneled or instructed or was biased or prejudiced against him. Pp. 545-549.
(b) Petitioner has failed to show that he was denied equal protection of the laws on the ground that he is a member of a class (the union of which he was president) that was not accorded equal treatment in the grand jury proceedings. P. 549.
(c) Petitioner’s contention that he was denied equal protection of the laws by a Washington statute which permits persons in custody or on bail to challenge grand jurors but denies the same right to persons who are not in custody or on bail when investigated by grand juries is not properly before this Court. Pp. 549-554.
(d) On the record in this case, it cannot be said that the State has failed to afford petitioner the procedural safeguards it affords others to insure an unbiased grand jury, or that a failure to afford such procedures would deny petitioner equal protection of the laws. Pp. 554-555.
(e) It cannot be said that the manner in which a witness before the grand jury was interrogated violated petitioner’s constitutional rights. P. 555.
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Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Beck v. Washington, 369 U.S. 541 (1962) in 369 U.S. 541 369 U.S. 542. Original Sources, accessed November 24, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=E6RRA2L4EDJGWDA.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Beck v. Washington, 369 U.S. 541 (1962), in 369 U.S. 541, page 369 U.S. 542. Original Sources. 24 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=E6RRA2L4EDJGWDA.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Beck v. Washington, 369 U.S. 541 (1962). cited in 1962, 369 U.S. 541, pp.369 U.S. 542. Original Sources, retrieved 24 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=E6RRA2L4EDJGWDA.
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