Moton v. Swenson

Background

Petitioner and a companion entered a St. Louis gas station where the companion held two attendants at gunpoint. The petitioner demanded and took money from one attendant while the companion took money from the other. The petitioner was first charged with aiding and abetting the robbery of the second attendant, convicted of first-degree robbery by use of a dangerous weapon, and sentenced to 12 years. He was later charged separately for the robbery of the other attendant, convicted of first-degree robbery with a dangerous weapon, and sentenced to 15 years. The state supreme court affirmed both convictions, and a federal habeas petition was dismissed by the District Court and affirmed by the Eighth Circuit. The Supreme Court declined to review the case.

Reasoning

The key question was whether prosecuting the two robberies in separate trials violated the Fifth Amendment protection against being tried twice for the same offense (double jeopardy), applied to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. The opinion in the record is the denial of review, so the Court did not resolve that question. In a published dissent, Justice Brennan argued that because both charges arose from the same transaction or episode, the Double Jeopardy Clause required the State to join all related charges in a single trial and that the separate prosecutions were improper.

Real world impact

Because the Court declined review, the two state convictions and their prison sentences remain in place. The Supreme Court’s refusal to act leaves unanswered whether similar separate prosecutions are barred, while Justice Brennan’s dissent warns that separate trials for the same episode should generally be prohibited.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Brennan, joined by Justices Douglas and Marshall, dissented from the denial and would have granted review and reversed the convictions.