Court Opinion

ID: 9429361
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:26:30.915977+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:19.215343
License: Public Domain

Justice Blackmun,
dissenting.
Like Justice Stevens, ante, at 974, I cannot “applaud” the procedures and appellate analysis that have led to petitioner’s death sentence. Like the Court, however, I cannot “applaud” the undertakings of petitioner and his companions that led to their victim’s death in the Jacksonville area that night in June 1974. But when a State chooses to impose capital punishment, as this Court has held a State presently has the right to do, it must be imposed by the rule of law. Justice Marshall’s opinion convincingly demonstrates the fragility, in Barclay’s case, of the application of Florida’s established law. The errors and missteps — intentional or otherwise — come close to making a mockery of the Florida statute and are too much for me to condone. Petitioner Barclay, reprehensible as his conduct may have been, deserves to have a sentencing hearing and appellate review free of such misapplication of law, and in line with the pronouncements of this Court.
The final result reached by the Florida courts, and now by this Court, in Barclay’s case may well be deserved, but I cannot be convinced of that until the legal process of the case has been cleansed of error that is so substantial. The end does not justify the means even in what may be deemed to be a “deserving” capital punishment situation.
I therefore dissent.