斯帕夫訴美國案

斯帕夫訴美國案(Sparf v. United States, 156 US 51 (1895), or Sparf and Hansen v. United States[1]) 是美國最高法院的案件,考驗被控犯有同一罪行的多名被告供述的可採性,以及陪審團的職責。

斯帕夫訴美國案
(Sparf v. United States)
提出:1894March 5
判决:1895January 21
案件全名Sparf and Hansen v. United States
引註案號156 U.S. 51
15 S. Ct. 273; 39 L. Ed. 343; 1895 U.S. LEXIS 2120
既往案件Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of California
法庭判决
  • If one of two people who have committed murder makes a voluntary confession in front of the other, that confession is admissible against both, however not without the other person witnessing it.
    • A jury must apply the law based on the facts of a case.
    • A court may not direct the jury to return a guilty verdict.
    • A jury may convict someone of a lesser crime provided the elements of that crime are included in the original offense.
    • A court may instruct the jury to consider guilt only the alleged offenses, in the case of a person accused of murder, rather than any lesser offenses.
    • Juries do not have the right to dispute the law, however this does not prevent them from doing so.
法庭意见
多数意见Harlan
联名:Fuller, Field, Jackson, White
协同意见Jackson
不同意见Brewer
联名:Brown
不同意见Gray
联名:Shiras
本案推翻了先前的一项或多项判决
United States v. Susan B. Anthony (1873)

背景 编辑

1884年1月13日晚上,在前往大溪地島的航行中,"赫斯珀號"(Hesper)輪船的二副、名叫"莫里斯·菲茨杰拉德"(Maurice Fitzgerald)的男子被發現失踪。船員們相信菲茨杰拉德已經被殺,而他的屍體已被扔到了海裡。船長"索德格倫"(Sodergren)懷疑三名船員,即船員"聖克萊爾"(St. Clair)、"漢森"(Hansen)以及"斯帕夫"(Sparf)均參與了謀殺。索德格倫一直將三名嫌疑人關押,直到他們抵達大溪地島,在那裡他們被美國駐大溪地島領事帶上岸,隨後與其他人一起乘坐"熱帶鳥號"(Tropic Bird)輪船被送往舊金山[1]在那裡,他們三人因謀殺"菲茨杰拉德"一案受審並被定罪。

判決 编辑

法院於1895年1月21日以5票對4票作出判決,哈蘭(Harlan)大法官給出了多數意見。

註釋 编辑

  1. ^ 1.0 1.1 Sparf v. United States, 156 U.S. 51 (1895).

參閱 编辑

外部連結 编辑