v. United States

Citation464 U.S. 44,104 S.Ct. 385,78 L.Ed.2d 40
Decision Date07 November 1983
Docket NumberNo. 82-6848,TORRES-VALENCIA,82-6848
PartiesLuis v. UNITED STATES
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

On petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

PER CURIAM.

In its brief opposing the petition for certiorari, the Government concedes that the District Court erroneously refused to give petitioner's character evidence instruction to the jury, but argues that the error was harmless. The Government's concession of error, as well as its harmless error argument, should be presented to the Court of Appeals in the first instance. The motion of petitioner for leave to proceed in forma pauperis and the petition for writ of certiorari are granted, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is vacated and the case is remanded to the Court of Appeals for consideration of the Government's concession of error.

It is so ordered.

Justice REHNQUIST, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and Justice O'CONNOR join, dissenting.

This Court can only deal with a certain number of cases on the merits in any given Term, and therefore some judgment must attend the process of selection. Summary disposition is of course appropriate where a lower court has demonstrably misapplied our cases in a manner which has led to an incorrect result. Here, however, the Court chooses to summarily vacate a judgment of the Court of Appeals affirming petitioner's conviction on the ground that the government concedes that the District Court improperly failed to give an instruction tendered by petitioner. It is also conceded that petitioner fully argued to the jury his theory of the case, notwithstanding the District Court's refusal to give his proffered instructions.

I had thought the days of parsing a trial record to find isolated instructional errors in a charge to the jury were long gone. 28 U.S.C. § 2111 provides:

"On the hearing of any appeal or writ of certiorari in any case, the Court shall give judgment after an examination of the record without regard to errors or defects which do not affect the substantial rights of the parties."

I am confident that the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in deciding this case was well aware of this provision indeed, perhaps better aware of it than is this Court.

To continue reading

Request your trial
26 cases
  • Baldwin County Welcome Center v. Brown
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • 16 Abril 1984
    ...that the error of the Court of Appeals did not affect the substantial rights of the parties. Cf. Torres-Valencia v. United States, 464 U.S. ----, ____, 104 S.Ct. 385, 385, 78 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983) (REHNQUIST, J., dissenting) ("Summary disposition is . . . appropriate where a lower court has dem......
  • Reborn Enterprises, Inc. v. Fine Child, Inc.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York
    • 20 Junio 1984
    ... ... No. 82 Civ. 2451 (ADS) ... United States District Court, S.D. New York ... June 20, 1984. 590 F. Supp. 1424         COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED 590 F. Supp. 1425 ... ...
  • The Jeanery, Inc. v. James Jeans, Inc.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit
    • 2 Junio 1988
    ... ... JAMES JEANS, INC., a Washington Corporation, Defendant-Appellee ... No. 85-3751 ... United States Court of Appeals, ... Ninth Circuit ... Argued and Submitted May 5, 1986 ... Decided May 2, 1988 ... As Amended June 2, 1988 ... ...
  • OSC Corp. v. Apple Computer, Inc.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Central District of California
    • 11 Enero 1985
    ... ... O.S.C. CORPORATION, etc., et al., Counterclaim Defendants ... No. CV 81-6132-PAR (GX) ... United States District Court, C.D. California ... January 11, 1985. 601 F. Supp. 1275         COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED 601 F. Supp. 1276 ... ...
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT