DUE PROCESS
Moore v. Dempsey
261 US 86 (1923)
Justice Holmes delivered the opinions.
In 1919, during an Arkansas race riot, one white man was killed and several people of both races were injured. At the trial, 12 blacks were sentenced to death and 67 to lengthy prison terms. Black witnesses appearing at the trial were whipped until they consented to testify against the accused. The all-white jury heard the case in the presence of a mob threatening violence if there were no convictions. The court-appointed counsel did not ask for a change of venue and called no witnesses-not even the defendants themselves. The trial lasted 45 minutes, and the jury brought in a verdict of guilty after five minutes.
NAACP attorneys then applied for a writ of habeas corpus on the grounds that the trial was a trial in form only and no due process was accorded in view of the mob pressure. The petition was at first dismissed. The U. S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the petition should be heard, and reversed the decision of the Arkansas District Court, with Justice Holmes stating in his opinion that “counsel, jury and judge were swept to the fatal end by an irresistible wave of public passion.”
United States v. Adams Bordenave and Mitchell
319 US 312 (1943)
The three defendants in this case were convicted in a local U.S. court of the rape of a civilian while within the confines of Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. They were represented by a court-appointed lawyer, and sentenced to death. The men then appealed for assistance to the NAACP, which applied for a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that the local court was without jurisdiction. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, unable to decide the issue, forwarded the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
This Court ruled that the lower court was without jurisdiction in the case, with the result that the men were subsequently released from the custody of civilian authorities and returned to the Army for court-martial proceedings.
Sniadach v. Family Finance Corp.
395 US 337 (1969)
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a debtor’s wages cannot be garnisheed without court determination in a fair proceeding with notice to the debtor that a debt does exist and an opportunity extended to defend. In this case, the plaintiff’s wages had, under Wisconsin law, been withheld without proving the existence of a debt. In all, 17 states had permitted courts to tie up half an employee’s wages without establishing proof of debt.
Williams v. Illinois
399 US 235 (1970)
An indigent defendant was convicted of a misdemeanor, sentenced to one year in jail, and fined $500, as permitted by state law. He was required to remain in jail and work off, at a rate of $5 per day, the amount to which he might be in default of the fee at the expiration of his imprisonment.
The defendant’s appeal of the work-off provision of the sentence was denied by the trail judge. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, ruled for the defendant, declaring the work-off portion to be in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment because the aggregate imprisonment of an indigent would exceed the maximum period fixed by the statute and noted that a person with sufficient funds would not have been subjected to such a penalty.
Furman v. Georgia
408 US 238 (1972)
The U.S. Supreme Court declared the death penalty to be cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eight Amendment, since it is generally applied arbitrarily by judges and juries. However, the Court left room for state legislators to enact laws in which capital punishment would be applied less capriciously.