Legal Research

U.S. Supreme Court Case Update: Danforth v. Minnesota

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: Received from the ABA Criminal Justice Section, February 23, 2008.

"In Danforth, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7 to 2 that states may give prisoners the retroactive benefit of Supreme Court decisions that expand criminal procedure rights. That is the case, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, even if the court does not extend the same benefit in federal habeas corpus cases.

In this case, a Minnesota prisoner wanted to take advantage of a Supreme Court decision that in some cases barred the admission of out-of-court or pretrial testimony. Stephen Danforth had been convicted of the sexual abuse of a 6-year-old boy, based partly on a taped interview with the boy.

The Minnesota Supreme Court said Danforth was barred from benefiting from the decision because of a separate Supreme Court ruling that said such criminal procedure decisions would not be applied retroactively in federal cases.

But Stevens said that this restriction does not bind state courts, and the justices sent the case back to Minnesota. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy dissented.

Click on the link below to access the full opinion. If you cannot click on the link, copy and paste it into your browser".

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/06-8273.pdf

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on February 25, 2008 (boomark / email).