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Supreme Court· 3/30/1959

Williams v. Oklahoma

Citations

  • 358 U.S. 576
  • 79 S. Ct. 421
  • 3 L. Ed. 2d 516
  • 1959 U.S. LEXIS 1490

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

  • holding that considering murder as an aggravating circumstance justifying the death sentence for a kidnaping conviction is not double jeopardy
  • holding that a court may \consider responsible unsworn or `out-of-court' information relative to the circumstances of the crime and to the convicted person's life and characteristics\ without running afoul of due process
  • holding that courts may consider “unsworn or ‘out-of-court’ information relative to the circumstances of the crime and to the convicted person’s life and characteristics” at capital sentencing
  • holding that once a defendant’s guilt has been established, the sentencing judge is not restricted to consideration of evidence subject to examination and cross-examination of witnesses
  • holding that courts may consider “unsworn or ‘out-of-court’ information relative to the circumstances of the crime and to the convicted person’s life and characteristics” at capital sentencing
  • holding that a court may “consider 20 responsible unsworn or ‘out-of-court’ information relative to the circumstances of the 21 crime and to the convicted person’s life and characteristics” without running afoul of due 22 process

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Judges: Whittaker, Douglas

Read full opinion on CourtListener

Cited by

332 cases in this archive cite this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

Cites

3 cases in this archive are cited by this case.

Other cases named Williams v. Oklahoma

17 other CourtListener records share this case name.

Sourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).

This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.