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Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393 (1987)
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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.
Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393 (1987)
Hitchcock v. Dugger No. 85-6756 Argued October 15, 1986 Decided April 22, 1987 481 U.S. 393
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR
THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
Petitioner was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in a separate postconviction proceeding. In that proceeding, the trial judge instructed the advisory jury not to consider, and himself refused to consider, evidence of mitigating circumstances not specifically enumerated in the Florida death penalty statute. Following unsuccessful appeals and state and federal collateral proceedings, petitioner filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus in Federal District Court, claiming that the advisory jury and the sentencing judge had been precluded by law from considering evidence of nonstatutory mitigating circumstances. The District Court denied the application, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.
Held: Petitioner was sentenced to death in proceedings that did not comport with the requirement that the sentencer may neither refuse to consider nor be precluded from considering any relevant mitigating evidence. Skipper v. South Carolina, 476 U.S. 1; Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104; Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586. Under the circumstances of this case, petitioner’s death sentence cannot stand. Pp. 395-399.
770 F.2d 1514, reversed and remanded.
SCALIA, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
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Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393 (1987) in 481 U.S. 393 481 U.S. 394. Original Sources, accessed November 24, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=IWZ7Z1M4UQAXB9T.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393 (1987), in 481 U.S. 393, page 481 U.S. 394. Original Sources. 24 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=IWZ7Z1M4UQAXB9T.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393 (1987). cited in 1987, 481 U.S. 393, pp.481 U.S. 394. Original Sources, retrieved 24 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=IWZ7Z1M4UQAXB9T.
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