Beck v. Alabama
Beck v. Alabama | |
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Argued February 20, 1980 Decided June 20, 1980 | |
Full case name | Beck v. Alabama |
Citations | 447 U.S. 625 (more) 100 S. Ct. 2382; 65 L. Ed. 2d 392; 1980 U.S. LEXIS 134 |
Holding | |
The death sentence may not constitutionally be imposed after a jury verdict of guilt of a capital offense where the jury was not permitted to consider a verdict of guilt of a lesser included offense. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Stevens, joined by Burger, Brennan, Stewart, Blackmun, and Powell |
Concurrence | Brennan |
Concurrence | Marshall |
Dissent | Rehnquist, joined by White |
Laws applied | |
Due Process |
Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625 (1980), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a jury must be allowed to consider lesser included offenses, not just capital offense or acquittal.
Background[]
Beck was participating in a robbery when his accomplice intentionally killed someone. Beck was tried for capital murder. Under the Code of Alabama, Section 13-11-2 (1975), the requisite intent to kill could not be supplied by the felony murder doctrine. Felony murder was thus a lesser-included offense of the capital crime of robbery with an intentional killing. Under the statute, the judge was specifically prohibited from giving the jury the option of convicting for the lesser-included offense. Absent the statutory ban on such an instruction, Beck's testimony would have entitled him to an instruction on felony murder
Lower Courts[]
In the lower courts, Beck attacked the ban on the grounds that the Alabama statute was the same as the mandatory death penalty statutes that the Court had been striking down in recent holdings.
Decision of the Supreme Court[]
Though the lower courts disagreed, the Supreme Court held that the death sentence may not constitutionally be imposed after a jury verdict of guilt of a capital offense where the jury was not permitted to consider a verdict of guilt of a lesser included offense.[1]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ "Beck. V. Alabama 447 U.S. 625 (1980)". Justia. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
External links[]
- Text of Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625 (1980) is available from: CourtListener Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)
- United States Supreme Court cases
- United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court
- Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause and death penalty case law
- United States criminal due process case law
- Capital punishment in Alabama
- 1980 in United States case law
- 1980 in Alabama
- United States case law stubs
- United States Supreme Court stubs