Harris v. Oklahoma

Background

A grocery store clerk in Tulsa was shot and killed by the companion of the defendant during a robbery. The defendant was first tried and convicted of felony murder. Later the State tried him separately for robbery with firearms and convicted him again after a court denied his motion to dismiss on the ground that this second prosecution violated the rule against being tried twice for the same offense.

Reasoning

The central question was whether the State could prosecute the robbery after the defendant had already been convicted of murder when the murder conviction depended on proving the robbery. The Court noted that when a greater crime (murder) cannot be proved without proving a lesser included crime (robbery), the Constitution bars a later prosecution for that lesser crime. The State conceded that the murder trial required proof of all elements of the robbery. The Court granted review and reversed the state court’s judgment, holding the later robbery prosecution unlawful.

Real world impact

The ruling prevents prosecutors from bringing a separate robbery prosecution when a prior murder conviction necessarily established the robbery. It protects defendants from being punished twice for the same underlying conduct and requires prosecutors to be careful in how they charge related offenses arising from a single criminal episode. The reversal sends the case back by undoing the separate robbery conviction.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Brennan, joined by Justice Marshall, agreed with the reversal and added that the State should have prosecuted all charges together in one proceeding when they arise from the same act, except in very limited circumstances.