Rivera v. Illinois, 556 U.S. 148 (2009), is a decision by the United States Supreme Court involving whether the rejection of a defendant's peremptory challenge to a juror constituted harmless error.
| Rivera v. Illinois | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued February 23, 2009 Decided March 31, 2009 | |
| Full case name | Michael Rivera, Petitioner v. Illinois |
| Docket no. | 07-9995 |
| Citations | 556 U.S. 148 (more) 129 S. Ct. 1446; 173 L. Ed. 2d 320 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Holding for the defendant, People v. Rivera, 227 Ill. 2d 1, 879 N.E.2d 876 (2007). |
| Holding | |
| Unintentional errors by the court, that would not have altered the proceedings of the case, do not warrant a new trial and do not violate the Sixth Amendment's clause of the right to a fair trial. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinion | |
| Majority | Ginsburg, joined by unanimous |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. VI | |
Background of the case
editMichael Rivera was convicted of two counts of first degree murder in 1998. He was then sentenced to eighty-five years in prison. During the pre-trial voir dire, Rivera's counsel used a peremptory challenge to have a juror removed from consideration. The judge deemed the challenge to be based on discriminatory factors and allowed the juror to be seated.[1]
Rivera appealed, arguing that the trial judge erred in dismissing the peremptory challenge. The Illinois Supreme Court remanded the case for the trial court to explain why the peremptory challenge in question was discriminatory. The trial judge submitted gender discrimination as the relevant discriminatory factor.
Unsatisfied with this explanation, the Illinois Supreme Court held that Rivera was wrongly denied his challenge to dismiss the juror. The state supreme court found no evidence that Rivera's attorney used discriminatory considerations in arguing for the dismissal of the juror in question. Despite this, the state supreme court decided that such a mistake constituted a harmless error.[2]
U.S. Supreme Court ruling
editJames K. Leven argued the case for the petitioner. Michael A. Scodro argued the case for the respondent. Assistant to the Solicitor General Matthew D. Roberts argued the case for the United States, as amicus curiae, in support of the respondent.[3]
The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Illinois Supreme Court decision in a unanimous opinion.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Rivera v. Illinois, 556 U.S. 148 (2009)". Justia. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
- ^ "Docket No. 98609" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 5, 2011.
- ^ "RIVERA v. ILLINOIS 2009". Oyez. Archived from the original on September 22, 2015.
External links
edit- Text of Rivera v. Illinois, 556 U.S. 148 (2009) is available from: Justia Oyez (oral argument audio) Supreme Court (slip opinion) (archived)
- Oral arguments transcript Archived February 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine