United States v. Littlefield
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
752 F.2d 1429 (1985)
- Written by Salina Kennedy, JD
Facts
Jean Littlefield, George Nicoladze, and Fred Solomon (defendants) were tried for crimes related to fraudulent tax shelters. During jury deliberations, one of the jurors took a Time magazine article on similar fraudulent tax shelters into the jury room and discussed it with other jurors. The jury ultimately convicted Littlefield, Nicoladze, and Solomon, who challenged the verdict. The district court found that it could be concluded that the article did not bias the jury. Littlefield, Nicoladze, and Solomon appealed their convictions. The United States (government) (plaintiff) argued in opposition to the appeal that pursuant to Smith v. Phillips, 455 U.S. 209 (1982), the defendant and not the government bears the burden of proving jury bias.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Goodwin, 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.