Moore v. Missouri
Citations
- 159 U.S. 673
- 16 S. Ct. 179
- 40 L. Ed. 301
- 1895 U.S. LEXIS 2336
Syllabus
<p>The provision in § 3959 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri that prisoners convicted two or more times of committing offences punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary shall be punished with increased severity, for the later offences, does not in any way conflict with the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.</p> <p>A State may provide that persons who have been before convicted of crime may suffer severer punishment for.subsequent offences than for a. first offence against the law, and that a different punishment for the same offence may be inflicted under particular circumstances, provided it is dealt out to all alike who are similarly situated.</p> <p>Whether an indictment in a state court is sufficient in its description of the degree of the offence charged is a matter for the state court to determine, and its decision in that respect presents no Federal question.</p> <p>No question which' could be regarded' as a Federal question having been ' raised at his trial, the prisoner was not subjected to art unconstitutional ruling in not being allowed to have his case heard at large by seven' judges, instead of by three.</p>
How courts have described this case
Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.
- \[T]he State may undoubtedly provide that persons who have been before convicted of crime may suffer severer punishment for subsequent offences than for a first offence\
- consideration of prior record does not violate Equal Protection, Cruel and Unusual Punishment or Double Jeopardy clauses
- “the punishment is for the last offense committed, and it is rendered more severe in consequence of the situation into which the party had previously brought himself”
- “The state may undoubtedly provide that person who have been before convicted of crime may suffer severer punishment for 22 subsequent offenses than for a first offense.” (cleaned up)
- double jeopardy case- did not involve the right to counsel
- under recidivist statute, “the accused is not again punished for the first offence” because “the punishment is for the last offence committed, and it is rendered more severe in consequence of the situation into which the party had previously brought himself’
Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).
Judges: Fuller
Read full opinion on CourtListenerSourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).
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