Opper v. United States

Background

A person convicted in a criminal case asked the Supreme Court to review the Sixth Circuit’s decision. The petition for review listed several questions. The Court granted review only for three of those questions, and the case will return to the Supreme Court limited to those issues. The opinion lists the lawyers who represented the parties, including counsel for the convicted person and the Solicitor General for the United States.

Reasoning

The Court’s grant is limited to three specific questions framed in the petition. Those questions ask (1) whether an admission made to police after the date of the alleged acts should be treated like a confession and be inadmissible without other supporting proof, (2) whether a conviction can stand when, apart from such an admission, there is no independent proof that the crime actually occurred, and (3) whether statements by a co-defendant were improperly used against the convicted person when they were not legally admissible against him. By granting review limited to those questions, the Court has not yet decided the answers on the merits.

Real world impact

The Supreme Court will now decide how courts should treat post-event admissions, whether convictions can rest on those admissions without independent proof that a crime occurred, and when co-defendant statements can be used against other defendants. Because the grant is limited, the final answers will come later and could change the lower-court outcome in this case.