Aikens v. California

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Aikens v. California

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Argued January 17, 1972
Decided June 7, 1972
Full case nameEarnest James Aikens, Jr. v. People of the State of California
Citations

406 U.S. 813 ( more )

92 S. Ct. 1931; 32 L. Ed. 2d 511; 1972 U.S. LEXIS 52
Prior history Crim. No. 10118 February 18, 1969: 70 Cal. 2d 369, 450 P.2d 258; Certiorari dismissed (406 U.S. 813)
Subsequent history Death sentence converted to Life in Prison
Holding
Since petitioner no longer faces execution, his appeal is moot.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices
William O. Douglas  · William J. Brennan Jr.
Potter Stewart  · Byron White
Thurgood Marshall  · Harry Blackmun
Lewis F. Powell Jr.  · William Rehnquist
Case opinions
Per curiam.

Aikens v. California, 406 U.S. 813 (1972), [1] was a decision of the United States Supreme Court where a petitioner (in the U.S. Supreme Court, the plaintiff (Aikens) is called the petitioner and the defendant (the State of California) is called the respondent) was appealing his conviction and death sentence. After oral argument had been made on the case, but before the court decided on it, the Supreme Court of California in People v. Anderson , [2] declared the death penalty unconstitutional under the state constitution. This made his appeal unnecessary because the decision in Anderson

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A plaintiff is the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy; if this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the plaintiff and make the appropriate court order. "Plaintiff" is the term used in civil cases in most English-speaking jurisdictions, the notable exception being England and Wales, where a plaintiff has, since the introduction of the Civil Procedure Rules in 1999, been known as a "claimant", but that term also has other meanings. In criminal cases, the prosecutor brings the case against the defendant, but the key complaining party is often called the "complainant".

Defendant accused person

A defendant is a person accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or a person against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case.

Contents

declared capital punishment in California unconstitutional under Art. 1, 6, of the state constitution... The California Supreme Court declared in the Anderson case that its decision was fully retroactive and stated that any prisoner currently under sentence of death could petition a superior court to modify its judgment. [Aikens] thus no longer faces a realistic threat of execution... [emphasis added]

The Supreme Court would decide later that year, in Furman v. Georgia , [3] that the Death Penalty was under certain circumstances unconstitutional. Aikens was originally one of four cases that were selected along with Furman, but when the Anderson case was decided by the California Supreme Court, Aikens became moot.

Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court struck down all death penalty schemes in the United States in a 5–4 decision, with each member of the majority writing a separate opinion. Following Furman, in order to reinstate the death penalty, states had to at least remove arbitrary and discriminatory effects, to satisfy the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Mootness

In law, the terms moot and mootness have different meanings in British English and American English. The concept is important in U.S. jurisprudence but is little used elsewhere outside law schools.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Aikens v. California, 406 U.S. 813 (1972). PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from this U.S government document.
  2. ↑ People v. Anderson , 6Cal. 3d628 (1972).
  3. ↑ Furman v. Georgia , 408 U.S. 238 (1972).
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