Skipper v. South Carolina

Skipper v. South Carolina
Argued February 24, 1986
Decided April 29, 1986
Full case nameSkipper v. South Carolina
Citations476 U.S. 1 (more)
106 S. Ct. 1669; 90 L. Ed. 2d 1; 1986 U.S. LEXIS 145
Holding
The trial court's exclusion from the sentencing hearing of the testimony of the jailers and the visitor denied petitioner his right to place before the sentencing jury all relevant evidence in mitigation of punishment.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices
William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White
Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun
Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Case opinions
MajorityWhite, joined by Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor
ConcurrencePowell, joined by Burger, Rehnquist
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amends. VIII, XIV

Skipper v. South Carolina, 476 U.S. 1 (1986), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the rule from Lockett v. Ohio (1978) dictated that mitigating evidence not be subject to limitations based on relevance.