Missouri v. Hunter case brief

Missouri v. Hunter case brief summary
459 U.S. 359 (1983)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Defendant was convicted of robbery in the first degree and armed criminal action. The Missouri Court of Appeals reversed defendant's conviction and sentence for armed criminal action, finding that his sentence for both that crime and robbery in the first degree violated the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The State sought certiorari review.

CASE FACTS
Defendant successfully appealed his conviction and sentence for armed criminal action in the state courts, on the grounds that his sentence for both that crime and for robbery in the first degree violated the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

DISCUSSION

• The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari review and held that when the legislature specifically authorized cumulative punishment under two statutes, regardless of whether those two statutes proscribed the same conduct, a court's task of statutory construction was at an end and the prosecutor could seek and the trial court or jury could impose cumulative punishment under such statutes in a single trial. 
• The Court was not bound by the state supreme court's legal conclusion that the two statutes which defined the same crime violated the Double Jeopardy Clause.

CONCLUSION

The Court vacated the state court judgment, which set aside defendant's conviction and sentence for armed criminal action, and remanded the case for further proceedings.

Recommended Supplements for Criminal Procedure Criminal Procedure: Examples & Explanations, Sixth Edition
Emanuel Law Outline: Criminal Procedure