Schad v. Arizona, 501 U.S. 624 (1991), is a United States Supreme Court decision that explained which charges need to be explained to the jury in trials for felony murders.
| Schad v. Arizona | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued February 27, 1991 Decided June 21, 1991 | |
| Full case name | Schad v. State of Arizona |
| Citations | 501 U.S. 624 (more) 111 S. Ct. 2491; 115 L. Ed. 2d 555 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | State v. Schad, 163 Ariz. 411, 788 P.2d 1162 (1989); cert. granted, 498 U.S. 894 (1990). |
| Holding | |
| (1) Robbery is not a lesser included offense of felony murder predicated on robbery, and so Beck v. Alabama does not require a jury instruction on robbery when a defendant is charged with felony murder. (2) Because jurors need not agree on the mode of commission of an offense, Arizona may classify both premeditated murder and felony murder as first-degree murder and require that jurors unanimously agree only that first-degree murder was committed, rather than that felony murder or premeditated murder was committed. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Souter, joined by Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy (in full); Scalia (part III) |
| Concurrence | Scalia |
| Dissent | White, joined by Marshall, Blackmun, Stevens |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amends. VI, XIV | |
See also
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Works related to Schad v. Arizona at Wikisource- Text of Schad v. Arizona, 501 U.S. 624 (1991) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)
- Case profile from the Arizona Department of Corrections
- Capital Defense Network's Introduction to the Eighth Amendment
