Court Opinion

ID: 9430370
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:29:36.059249+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:24.222826
License: Public Domain

Justice Brennan,
dissenting.
Both the charge for aggravated robbery, to which respondent pleaded guilty, and the subsequent charge for aggravated murder arose from the same criminal transaction or episode. In those circumstances, Ohio’s prosecution for aggravated murder, and the Ohio Court of Appeals’ subsequent reduction of that conviction to simple murder, in my view, violated the prohibition of the Fifth Amendment, made applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, Benton v. Maryland, 395 U. S. 784 (1969), that no person shall be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy. I adhere to my view that the Double Jeopardy Clause requires that except in extremely limited circumstances not present here, “all the charges against a defendant that grow out of a single criminal act, occurrence, episode, or transaction” be prosecuted in one proceeding. Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U. S. 436, 453-454 (1970) (Brennan, J., concurring). See, e. g., Brooks v. Oklahoma, 456 U. S. 999 (1982) (Brennan, J., dissenting); Snell v. United States, 450 U. S. 957 (1981) (Brennan, J., dissenting); Werneth v. Idaho, 449 U. S. 1129 (1981) (Brennan, J., dissenting); Thompson v. Oklahoma, *258429 U. S. 1053 (1977) (Brennan, J., dissenting). Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment below reversing the District Court, with directions to the Court of Appeals to remand the case to the District Court with instructions to issue the writ.
However, even on the view that a second prosecution is permissible under the circumstances of this case, I would agree with Justice Blackmun for the reasons stated in his opinion concurring in the judgment, ante, p. 248, that respondent is entitled to a new trial if he could demonstrate a “reasonable possibility” that he was prejudiced. Ante, at 255-256. I also agree with Justice Marshall, post, at 259, that the Court of Appeals’ finding that this standard has been met should be sustained.