Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 135.0

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Unit: $U76

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HOPKINS v. REEVES

Opinion of the Court

Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist,
C. J., and O(cid:146)Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, and
Breyer, JJ., joined. Stevens, J., ﬁled a dissenting opinion, post, p. 101.

Don Stenberg, Attorney General of Nebraska, argued the
cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs was J. Kirk
Brown, Assistant Attorney General.

Roy W. McLeese III argued the cause for the United
States as amicus curiae urging reversal. With him on
the brief were Solicitor General Waxman, Acting Assistant
Attorney General Keeney, and Deputy Solicitor General
Dreeben.

Paula Hutchinson, by appointment of the Court, 522 U. S.
1074, argued the cause for respondent. With her on the
brief were Kent Gipson and Timothy K. Ford.*

Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.
In Beck v. Alabama, 447 U. S. 625 (1980), we held uncon-
stitutional a state statute that prohibited lesser included
offense instructions in capital cases, when lesser included
offenses to the charged crime existed under state law and
such instructions were generally given in noncapital cases.
In this case, we consider whether Beck requires state trial
courts to instruct juries on offenses that are not lesser in-
cluded offenses of the charged crime under state law. We

*A brief of amici curiae urging reversal was ﬁled for the State of Ari-
zona et al. by Grant Woods, Attorney General of Arizona, Paul J. McMur-
die, and Jon G. Anderson, Assistant Attorney General, joined by the At-
torneys General for their respective States as follows: Daniel E. Lungren
of California, M. Jane Brady of Delaware, Alan G. Lance of Idaho, James
E. Ryan of Illinois, Mike Moore of Mississippi, Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon
of Missouri, Joseph P. Mazurek of Montana, Frankie Sue Del Papa of
Nevada, Philip T. McLaughlin of New Hampshire, Dennis C. Vacco of
New York, Michael F. Easley of North Carolina, Betty D. Montgomery of
Ohio, W. A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Mark W. Barnett of South
Dakota, John Knox Walkup of Tennessee, and Richard Cullen of Virginia.
David Porter and Helen C. Trainor ﬁled a brief for the National Asso-
ciation of Criminal Defense Lawyers as amici curiae urging afﬁrmance.