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Linkletter v. Walker

United States Supreme Court
381 U.S. 618 (1965)

Written by Heather Whittemore, JD

Facts

In Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961), the United States Supreme Court held that under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, evidence obtained in violation of the search-and-seizure provisions of the Fourth Amendment had to be excluded from criminal proceedings. Mapp overruled the Court’s prior precedent, Wolf v. People of the State of Colorado, 338 U.S. 25 (1949), which did not apply the exclusionary rule to states. Mapp was applied retroactively to reverse Dollree Mapp’s conviction and was applied to cases pending direct review at the time Mapp was decided. Victor Linkletter (defendant) argued that the holding from Mapp should apply retroactively to cases that had been decided prior to the Court’s decision in Mapp and that involved violations of the Fourth Amendment’s search-and-seizure provisions. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that Mapp did not apply retroactively to cases with final judgment entered before the Court’s decision in Mapp. Linkletter appealed.

Rule of Law

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Issue

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Holding and Reasoning (Clark, J.)

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Dissent (Black, J.)

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