Aikens v. California

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Aikens v. California
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 17, 1972 Decided June 7, 1972
Full case name: Earnest James Aikens, Jr. v. People of the State of California Citations: 406 U.S. 813; 406 U.S. 813 Prior history: Crim. No. 10118 Feb. 18, 1969: 70 Cal. 2d 369, 450 P.2d 258; Certiorari dismissed (406 U.S. 813) Subsequent history: Death sentence converted to Life in Prison
Holding
Since petitioner no longer faces execution, his appeal is moot.
Court membership
Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger Associate Justices: William O. Douglas, William J. Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr., William Rehnquist
Case opinions
Majority by: per curiam

Aikens v. California, 406 U.S. 813 (1972) was a decision of the United States Supreme Court where a petitioner was appealing his conviction and death sentence, after oral argument had been made on the case, but before the court decided on it, the California Supreme Court in California v. Anderson 64 Cal.2d 633, 414 P.2d 366 (1972), declared the death penalty unconstitutional under the state constitution. This made his appeal unnecessary because the decision in Anderson

“

declared capital punishment in California unconstitutional under Art. 1, 6, of the state constitution... The California Supreme Court declared in the Anderson case that its decision was fully retroactive and stated that any prisoner currently under sentence of death could petition a superior court to modify its judgment. [Aikens] thus no longer faces a realistic threat of execution...

”

The Supreme Court would, later that year, in Furman v. Georgia 408 U.S. 238 (1972) decide that the Death Penalty was unconstitutional. Aikens was originally one of four cases that were selected along with Furman, but when the Anderson case was decided by the California Supreme Court, Aikens became moot.

• Text of the decision