Hugo Black

“ Moreover, Kentucky law itself seems to provide that if a man wrongfully arrested fails to object to the arresting officer, he waives any right to complain later that the arrest was unlawful. Nickell v. Commonwealth, Ky., 285 S.W.2d 495, 496.
Thus we find no evidence whatever in the record to support these convictions. Just as 'Conviction upon a charge not made would be sheer denial of due process,' [12] so is it a violation of due process to convict and punish a man without evidence of his guilt. ”

“ Petitioner was found guilty in the Police Court of Louisville, Kentucky, of two offenses-loitering and disorderly conduct. The ultimate question presented to us is whether the charges against petitioner were so totally devoid of evidentiary support as to render his conviction unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Decision of this question turns not on the sufficiency of the evidence, but on whether this conviction rests upon any evidence at all. ”

“ There simply is no semblance of evidence from which any person could reasonably infer that petitioner could not give a satisfactory account of himself or that he was loitering or loafing there (in the ordinary sense of the words) without 'the consent of the owner or controller' of the cafe.
Petitioner's conviction for disorderly conduct was under § 85 8 of the city ordinance which, without definition, provides that ' (w) hoever shall be found guilty of disorderly conduct in the City of Louisville shall be fined * * *.' etc. ”