Deck 8: Due Process and the Death Penalty

Question 1

______________ has interpreted the due process clause as that which "guarantees more than fairness . . . [it] provides heightened protection against government interference."

A) The Supreme Court
B) The Federal Court
C) The County Court
D) All of the above

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Key areas of the death penalty law pay particular attention to:

A) Guided discretion
B) Process and admissibility
C) Disclosing exculpatory evidence
D) All of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The Gregg Court extended the concept of ______________, which involved (1) consideration of mitigating evidence during sentencing, (2) the defendant's opportunity to deny or refute the state's evidence, (3) evidence of future dangerousness, and (4) the process of jury decision-making.

A) Future dangerousness
B) Mitigating evidence
C) Due process
D) Capital juries

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The Woodson Court concluded that the North Carolina statute violated the ___________ test established in Trop v. Dulles.

A) Evolving standards of decency
B) Due process clause
C) Guided discretion
D) All of the above

Question 5

In Locket v. Ohio, the Court expanded the application of the _________________by invalidating an Ohio capital sentencing statute.

A) 8^th and 14^th Amendments
B) 5th and 6th Amendments
C) 8th and 14^th Amendments
D) All of the above

Question 6

Which Supreme Court case held that a sentencing body may not refuse to consider a pertinent mitigating fact even when that fact has been deemed insignificant?

A) Lockett v. Ohio
B) Eddings v. Oklahoma
C) Furman v. Georgia
D) Netherland v. Gray

Question 7

Capital juries often must decide whether a defendant's conduct represents a future dangerousness to society before imposing a ____________.

A) Death sentence
B) Mitigating factor
C) Process clause
D) None of the above

Question 8

In California v. Ramos, the Court held that a jury instruction regarding the possibility of a commuted life sentence did not violate the 8^th Amendment or the due process clause of the ___________,

A) 5^th Amendment
B) 14th Amendment
C) 1^st Amendment
D) 6^th Amendment

Question 9

If the judge, not the jury, determines that the prosecutor's evidence was "___________," then the defendant could not proffer evidence suggestive of the third-party guilt.

A) Intermediate
B) Weak
C) Strong
D) None of the above

Question 10

The Court began its opinion addressing the practice of ___________ in the context of its prior holdings in Estelle v. Williams (1976), Illinois v. Allen (1970), and Holbrook v. Flynn (1986).

A) Shackling
B) Stabbing
C) Death
D) Murder

Question 11

The court's ruling on shackling was based on central criticisms, such as:

A) Shackling may lead to biased juror perceptions undermining the presumption of innocence
B) Shackling is likely to interfere with a defendant's capacity to assist in his or her own defense
C) Shackling may undercut key principles characterizing U.S. courtrooms
D) All of the above

Question 12

The Court's third justification for supporting a general prohibition on the practice of shackling focused on the maintenance of

A) Power, equality, and justice
B) Dignity, power, and justice
C) Dignity, equality, and justice
D) All of the Above

Question 13

In which case did the Court hold that testimony from a psychiatrist based on a court-ordered psychiatric examination violated the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments when the defendant was not advised of his constitutional rights?

A) Eddings v. Oklahoma
B) Lockett v. Ohio
C) Estelle v. Smith
D) All of the Above

Question 14

Which case held that "the suppression by prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution"?

A) Brady v. Maryland
B) Estelle v. Smith
C) Furman v. Georgia
D) None of the above

Question 15

What are the central issues involved an underlying Brady violation?

A) Whether a federal habeas court has the authority to decide if a state court incorrectly held that state law bars review of a habeas case
B) Whether habeas claims that are presented twice in state courts are procedurally defaulted in federal court
C) Both a and c
D) None of the above

Question 16

In Woodson v. North Carolina, the Court examined a statute that banned the death penalty for defendants convicted of first-degree murder.

Question 17

In Lockett v. Ohio, the Court found an Ohio sentencing statute unconstitutional because the 8^th and 14th Amendments required consideration of mitigating evidence offered by the defendant that supported a sentence less than death.

Question 18

In Gardner v. Florida (1977), the Court invalidated a trial court's decision by exclusively relying on the concept of due process as the basis for its holding.

Question 19

In Netherland v. Gray, Gray had the opportunity to request a continuance and was not deprived of adequate notice, and therefore, there was a violation of due process.

Question 20

The Court first used the due process clause to decide issues on future dangerousness in Skipper v. South Carolina (1986).

Question 21

The South Carolina law the Court addressed in Holmes posited that if the state has strong forensic evidence, then a defendant cannot raise an "alternative perpetrator defense."

Question 22

In Holmes v. South Carolina, writing for a unanimous majority opinion, Justice Alito held that a South Carolina law violated the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Question 23

Seventeen states, including South Carolina, require defendants to present evidence indicating an "indirect link" between a particular third party and the offense.

Question 24

In Sattazahn v. Pennsylvania (2003), the Court resolved the issue of whether a life sentence imposed by a court constitutes a form of acquittal and bars a retrial for a harsher sentence by relying on the concept of due process and the 5th Amendment's double jeopardy clause.

Question 25

The implications of the Brady rule extend beyond the case itself. According to the text, it encompasses the domain of criminal procedure applicable to the prosecutor's duty to disclose favorable or exculpatory evidence to the accused.

Question 26

By way of Cone v. Bell (2009), the Court reminds us that the Brady rule encompasses evidence that may not reduce a defendant's culpability but nevertheless mitigates punishment.

Question 27

In Smith v. Cain, a non-death penalty case, the Court established that disclosure was required even when defense counsel disapproved.

Question 28

In Smith v. Cain, the Court said no ineffective assistance of counsel claim existed when a defense attorney failed to object to a "double-counting" technique that was based on then-existing Eighth Circuit law.

Question 29

In Connick v. Thompson, the Court ultimately refused to provide relief to Thompson because the New Orleans District Attorney's office committed a pattern of unrelated Brady violations that would have put the agency on notice that training was constitutionally required.

Question 30

The Court eventually began to use the right to due process of law instead of the 8^th Amendment for invalidating state capital sentencing procedures.