O'Sullivan v. Boerckel
United States Supreme Court
526 U.S. 838, 119 S. Ct. 1728, 144 L.Ed.2d 1 (1999)
- Written by Robert Cane, JD
Facts
Boerckel (defendant) was convicted of rape, burglary, and aggravated battery and sentenced to serve 20 to 60 years in prison. Boerckel appealed to the Illinois appellate court, claiming that: (1) his confession should have been suppressed because it was the fruit of an unlawful arrest, (2) his confession should have been suppressed because it was coerced, (3) he had not waived his Miranda rights, (4) the prosecutor committed misconduct, (5) he had been denied exculpatory material, and (6) the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction. The appellate court rejected these claims. Next, he filed a petition to the Illinois Supreme Court. However, Boerckel only raised the first, fourth, and fifth claims above. The Illinois Supreme Court denied his petition. The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. Later, Boerckel filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the federal district court. Boerckel was appointed counsel and requested relief on the same grounds as the initial appellate claim except for the accusation of prosecutorial misconduct, which was replaced by an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim. The district court held that the three claims that were not included in the petition to the Illinois Supreme Court were procedurally defaulted (that is, that he had not waived his Miranda rights, that his confession was not voluntary, and that the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction). The court of appeals reversed. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (O’Connor, J.)
Dissent (Stevens, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.