Hurtado v. California

Provision of the Constitution at Issue

14th Amendment Due Process Clause

Major Doctrines

Hurtado Doctrine — Hurtado doctrine: anti- redundancy — dp clause of the 5th is a guarantee separate from other guarantees

Dissent

Justice Harlan dissented, examined the grand jury system 'But these informations (of every kind) are confined by the constitutional law to mere misdemeanors only; for, wherever any capital offense is charged, the same law requires that the accusation be warranted by the oath of twelve men before the party shall be put to answer it.' and stated Critics contend that by abandoning the grand jury as originally conceived, the rights of the accused are less well-protected results in more miscarriages of justice.

Reasoning of the Majority

Justice Matthews: Justice Matthews stated that the states should be free to construct their own laws without infringement and that the 14th Amendment was not intended to guarantee the right of a grand jury because it would have been specifically referenced. The Court also took the position that nothing in the Constitution is superfluous. Since the Fifth Amendment contains both a guarantee of grand jury proceedings and a guarantee of due process, the latter cannot embrace the former. due process clause of 14th is the same guarantee as 5th amendment due process 5th amendment has due process clause and has additional criminal procedures guarantees stands along side other separate and distinct crimm procedures constitution must be interpreted as not redundant, thus 5th amendment due process clause must by definition protect rights other than those in the 5th dp clause of 5th is the same as the 14th; DP of the 14th cannot include rights also in the 5th — and by implication the rest of the bill of rights 5th federal — 14th the states the 5th amendment due process clause cannot contain any of the guarantees in the bill of rights His opinion also concluded that Hurtado's due process right was not violated because an information is "merely a preliminary proceeding and can result in no final judgment." He further concluded that Hurtado still received a fair trial.

Government Action or Statute in Question

The California Constitution, The State of California's Conviction of Joseph Hurtado. Does a state criminal proceeding based on an information rather than a grand jury indictment violate the 14th Amendment's due process clause?

Facts

The State of California tried and convicted Joseph Hurtado for murder. He was tried on a prosecutor's affidavit (which is allowed by the California Constitution.) Hurtado was convicted and sentenced to death. He appealed to SCOTUS arguing the 14th amendment amid due process because he did not receive an indictment from the grand jury. A grand jury indictment is based on majority vote of the grand jurors on presentation by the prosecutor.

Holding

The court ruled that Hurtado's conviction was not a violation of Due Process