OCTOBER TERM, 1995
Syllabus
certiorari to the supreme court of montana
No. 95-566. Argued March 20, 1996—Decided June 13, 1996
On trial for two counts of deliberate homicide—defined by Montana law as "purposely" or "knowingly" causing another's death—respondent claimed that extreme intoxication had rendered him physically incapable of committing the murders and accounted for his inability to recall the events of the night in question. After being instructed, pursuant to Mont. Code Ann. § 45-2-203, that respondent's "intoxicated condition" could not be considered "in determining the existence of a mental state which is an element of the offense," the jury found respondent guilty. In reversing, the Supreme Court of Montana reasoned that respondent had a right, under the Due Process Clause, to present and have the jury consider "all relevant evidence" to rebut the State's evidence on all elements of the offense charged, and that evidence of his voluntary intoxication was "clearly relevant" to the issue whether he acted knowingly and purposely. Because § 45-2-203 prevented the jury from considering that evidence, the court concluded that the State had been relieved of part of its burden of proof and that respondent had therefore been denied due process.
Held: The judgment is reversed.
272 Mont. 114, 900 P. 2d 260, reversed.
Justice Scalia, joined by The Chief Justice, Justice Kennedy, and Justice Thomas, concluded that § 45-2-203 does not violate the Due Process Clause. Pp. 41-56. (a) The State Supreme Court's proposition that the Due Process Clause guarantees the right to introduce all relevant evidence is indefensible. See, e. g., Taylor v. Illinois, 484 U. S. 400, 410; Fed. Rule Evid. 403; Fed. Rule Evid. 802. The Clause does place limits upon restriction of the right to introduce evidence, but only where the restriction "offends some principle of justice so rooted in the traditions and conscience of our people as to be ranked as fundamental." See Patterson v. New York, 432 U. S. 197, 201-202. Respondent has failed to meet the heavy burden of establishing that a defendant's right to have a jury consider voluntary intoxication evidence in determining whether he possesses the requisite mental state is a "fundamental principle of justice." The primary guide in making such a determination, historical practice, gives respondent little support. It was firmly established at common law that a defendant's voluntary intoxication provided neither an "excuse"
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