Albert Armendariz, Sr., argued the cause and filed a brief for petitioners. Solicitor General Griswold argued the cause for the United States. With him on the brief were Assistant Attorney General Petersen, Deputy Solicitor General Lacovara, Harry R. Sachse, and Jerome M. Feit. [410 U.S. 578, 579]
Full Answer
Jun 17, 2017 · Hurtado v. California. Following is the case brief for Hurtado v. California, 110 U.S. 516 (1884) Case Summary of Hurtado v. California: The law of California allows for accusation by information to begin a criminal case, in addition to indictment by grand jury. Hurtado was accused by information of murder. He was subsequently tried and found ...
The supreme court of California, in the judgment now under review, followed its own previous decision in Kalloch v. Super. Ct. 56 Cal. 229, in which the question was deliberately adjudged. Its conclusion was there stated as follows: 'This proceeding, as [it] is regulated by the constitution and laws of this state, is not opposed to any of the ...
On the 5th day of June, 1882, the Superior Court of Sacramento County, in which the plaintiff in error had been tried, rendered its judgment upon said verdict that the said Joseph Hurtado, plaintiff in error, be punished by the infliction of death, and the day of his execution was fixed for the 20th day of July, 1882.
Jan 22, 1884 Decided Mar 3, 1884 Facts of the case The State of California tried and convicted Hurtado on an information for murder. An information is a written set of accusations made by a prosecutor. Hurtado maintained that California denied him an indictment by a grand jury.
Rochin v. California | |
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Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson Associate Justices Hugo Black · Stanley F. Reed Felix Frankfurter · William O. Douglas Robert H. Jackson · Harold H. Burton Tom C. Clark · Sherman Minton | |
Case opinions | |
Majority | Frankfurter, joined by Reed, Jackson, Burton, Vinson, Clark |
Concurrence | Black |
It is claimed on behalf of the prisoner that the conviction and sentence are void, on the ground that they are repugnant to that clause of the fourteenth article of amendment to the constitution of the United States, which is in these words: 'Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.'.
The plaintiff in error, Joseph Hurtado, now under sentence of death pronounced in one of the courts of California, brings this writ of error upon the ground that the proceedings against him are in violation of the constitution of the United States. The crime charged, and of which he was found guilty, is murder.
Because he was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death without having been indicted by a grand jury, he was deprived of his right to due process of law under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Samuel Blatchford, Joseph P. Bradley, Stephen Johnson Field, Horace Gray, Stanley Matthews (writing for the Court), Samuel Freeman Miller, Morrison Remick Waite, William Burnham Woods
The Fourteenth Amendment's requirement of "due process" cannot be held to include the rights specified in the Fifth Amendment, and that therefore Hurtado's conviction and death sentence should stand.
The State of California tried and convicted Hurtado on an information for murder. An information is a written set of accusations made by a prosecutor. Hurtado maintained that California denied him an indictment by a grand jury. A grand jury indictment is based on majority vote of the grand jurors on presentation by the prosecutor.
Does a state criminal proceeding based on an information rather than a grand jury indictment violate the 14th Amendment's due process clause?
No, this was not a violation of due process. Any legal proceeding that protects liberty and justice is due process. The majority opinion, authored by Matthews, reasoned that the Constitution cannot be locked into static conceptions bound by time and place. The Court also took the position that nothing in the Constitution is superfluous.
"Hurtado v. California." Oyez, www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/110us516. Accessed 7 Aug. 2021.
516 (1884), was a landmark case decided by the United States Supreme Court that allowed state governments, as distinguished from the federal government, to avoid using grand juries in criminal prosecutions.
Joseph Hurtado discovered that his wife, Susie, was having an affair with their friend, José Antonio Estuardo. After measures that Hurtado took to put an end to the affair, such as temporarily sending his wife away to live with her parents and then assaulting Estuardo in a bar after his wife returned and the affair resumed, proved futile, ...
A grand jury shall be drawn and summoned at least once a year in each county.". The Sacramento County judge examined the information and determined that Hurtado should be brought to trial. Hurtado was tried, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death.
" Blackstone says: 'But to find a bill there must be at least twelve of the jury agree; for, so tender is the law of England of the lives of the subjects, that no man can be convicted at the suit of the king of any capital offense, unless by a unanimous voice of twenty-four of his equals and neighbors; that is, by twelve at least of the grand jury, in the first place, assenting to the accusation, and afterwards by the whole petit jury of twelve more finding him guilty upon his trial.'" Also, "'But these informations (of every kind) are confined by the constitutional law to mere only; for, wherever any capital offense is charged, the same law requires that the accusation be warranted by the oath of twelve men before the party shall be put to answer it.' Id. 309." He cited Edward Coke, who held that "in capital cases, informations are not allowed by that law [of the land], and was not due process of law."