Spencer v. Israel
Citation | 76 L.Ed.2d 366,460 U.S. 1102,103 S.Ct. 1801 |
Decision Date | 18 April 1983 |
Docket Number | No. 82-5950,82-5950 |
Parties | Amos G. SPENCER v. Thomas ISRAEL, Warden |
Court | United States Supreme Court |
On petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
The petition for writ of certiorari is denied.
A defendant's right to due process is violated when the trial judge, in charging the jury on the issue of criminal intent, "require[s] the jury, if satisfied as to [specified] facts . . ., to find intent unless the defendant offer[s] evidence to the contrary." Sandstrom v. Montana, 442 U.S. 510, 515, 99 S.Ct. 2450, 2454, 61 L.Ed.2d 39 (1979). Such a presumption is inconsistent with the constitutional requirement that the State prove every element of a criminal offense beyond a reasonable doubt. In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970).
At petitioner's trial on the charge of first-degree murder, the trial judge twice instructed the jury as follows:
For reasons fully elaborated by three federal judges who have considered the constitutionality of an identical instruction, the instruction in this case was impermissible because it described a mandatory presumption of intent. See Pigee v. Israel, 670 F.2d 690, 697-699 (CA7) (Baker, J., dissenting) cert. denied, 459 U.S. ---, 103 S.Ct. 103, 74 L.Ed.2d 93 (1982); Austin v. Israel, 516 F.Supp. 461 (E.D.Wis.1981); Harris v. Israel, 515 F.Supp. 568 (E.D.Wis.1981). The decision below, which denied petitioner's request for the issuance of a certificate of probable cause to appeal, therefore cannot be squared with Sandstrom. I would grant certiorari to correct the lower court's clear departure from this Court's precedents.
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