430
Blackmun, J., dissenting
Justice Blackmun, with whom Justice Stevens and Justice Souter join with respect to Parts I-IV, dissenting.
Nothing could be more contrary to contemporary standards of decency, see Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U. S. 399, 406 (1986), or more shocking to the conscience, see Rochin v. California, 342 U. S. 165, 172 (1952), than to execute a person who is actually innocent.
I therefore must disagree with the long and general discussion that precedes the Court's disposition of this case. See ante, at 398-417. That discussion, of course, is dictum because the Court assumes, "for the sake of argument in deciding this case, that in a capital case a truly persuasive demonstration of 'actual innocence' made after trial would render the execution of a defendant unconstitutional." Ante, at 417. Without articulating the standard it is applying, however, the Court then decides that this petitioner has not made a sufficiently persuasive case. Because I believe that in the first instance the District Court should decide whether petitioner is entitled to a hearing and whether he is entitled to relief on the merits of his claim, I would reverse the order of the Court of Appeals and remand this case for further proceedings in the District Court.
I
The Court's enumeration, ante, at 398-399, of the constitutional rights of criminal defendants surely is entirely beside the point. These protections sometimes fail.1 We really
1 One impressive study has concluded that 23 innocent people have been executed in the United States in this century, including one as recently as 1984. Bedau & Radelet, Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases, 40 Stan. L. Rev. 21, 36, 173-179 (1987); M. Radelet, H. Bedau, & C. Putnam, In Spite of Innocence 282-356 (1992). The majority cites this study to show that clemency has been exercised frequently in capital cases when showings of actual innocence have been made. See ante, at 415. But the study also shows that requests for clemency by persons the authors believe were innocent have been refused. See, e. g., Bedau & Radelet, 40 Stan. L. Rev., at 91 (discussing James Adams who was executed in
Page: Index Previous 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007