Gray v. Netherland, 518 U.S. 152, 13 (1996)

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164

GRAY v. NETHERLAND

Opinion of the Court

The due process challenge in petitioner's brief relies on two "particular analys[es]" of due process. Ibid. Relying on cases like Gardner v. Florida, 430 U. S. 349 (1977), and Skipper v. South Carolina, 476 U. S. 1 (1986), petitioner argues that he should have been given " 'such notice of the issues involved in the [sentencing] hearing as [would have] reasonably enable[d] him to prepare his case,' " Brief for Petitioner 32 (quoting B. Schwartz, Administrative Law 283 (2d ed. 1984)), and that he was denied "a fair opportunity to be heard on determinative sentencing issues," Brief for Petitioner 33. This right stems from the defendant's "legitimate interest in the character of the procedure which leads to the imposition of sentence" of death, Gardner, 430 U. S., at 358, which justifies giving him an "opportunity to deny" potentially determinative sentencing information, id., at 362.

"Yet another way in which the state may unconstitution-ally . . . deprive [a defendant] of a meaningful opportunity to address the issues, is simply by misinforming him." Brief for Petitioner 34. Petitioner cites In re Ruffalo, 390 U. S. 544 (1968), Raley v. Ohio, 360 U. S. 423 (1959), and Mooney v. Holohan, 294 U. S. 103 (1935), for this proposition. Ruffalo was a disbarment proceeding in which this Court held that the disbarred attorney had not been given notice of the charges against him by the Ohio committee which administered bar discipline. 390 U. S., at 550. In Raley, the chairman and members of a state investigating commission assured witnesses that the privilege against self-incrimination was available to them, but when the witnesses were convicted for contempt the Supreme Court of Ohio held that a state immunity statute rendered the Fifth Amendment privilege unavailable. 360 U. S., at 430-434. And in Mooney v. Holohan, the defendant alleged that the prosecution knowingly used perjured testimony at his trial. 294 U. S., at 110.

Gardner, Ruffalo, Raley, and Mooney arise in widely differing contexts. Gardner forbids the use of secret testimony in the penalty proceeding of a capital case which the

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