Lego v. Illinois

Background

A man tried in Illinois in March 1984 was convicted of murder and later sentenced to death. At trial he asked the judge to ask potential jurors whether they believed in the presumption of innocence; the judge refused. After trial he relied on a later Illinois decision, People v. Zehr, which said trial courts must ask jurors about the presumption of innocence, but that decision came about six months after his trial ended.

Reasoning

The Illinois Supreme Court rejected his claim because it had earlier held in People v. Britz that Zehr represented a change in Illinois law and would not apply retroactively. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier decided in Griffith v. Kentucky that new federal constitutional rules governing criminal procedure must be applied retroactively to cases on direct review, abandoning an older “clear break” exception. The Illinois court later said Griffith did not require it to revisit Britz. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition for review in this case, leaving the Illinois court’s decision and the death sentence intact.

Real world impact

Because the Supreme Court denied review, the Illinois decision refusing retroactive application of Zehr stands for now, and the defendant’s conviction and death sentence remain in effect. The denial leaves unresolved the broader question whether state courts that recognize new federal constitutional rules must follow this Court’s retroactivity principles when those state courts had earlier decided not to apply new rules retroactively.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Marshall, joined by Justice Brennan, dissented. He would have granted review to decide whether state courts are bound by this Court’s retroactivity rules and, consistent with his view that the death penalty is always unconstitutional, would have vacated the death sentence.