Potter Stewart

“ What is your position on capital punishment or penitentiary punishment?↑ The Court of Appeals' decision was rendered prior to our decision in Witherspoon.↑ This appears not only from petitioner's and respondent's oral evidence at the habeas corpus hearing, but also from the transcript of the interrogation of the night of May 1, in which Captain Williams stated:↑ 'The review of voluntariness in cases in which the trial was held prior to our decisions in Escobedo and Miranda is not limited in any manner by these decisions. ”

“ Without speculating as to the possible explanations for this disturbing lacuna in the opinions below, I would broaden the remand of this case so as to allow the District Court to consider whether petitioner was subjected to improper coercion on the afternoon of May 1, and what effect the events of that afternoon had on the voluntariness of the confession introduced into evidence at petitioner's trial. See Darwin v. ”

“ It appears that at the petitioner's trial two prospective jurors were excluded only after they had acknowledged that they would 'never' be willing to impose the death penalty. [6] Eleven veniremen, however, appear to have been excused for cause simply on the basis of their affirmative answers to the question whether, in the statutory language, they had 'a fixed opinion against' capital punishment. The following excerpt from the record is typical of those instances:
'THE COURT: Do you have a fixed opinion against capital punishment?
'MR. SEIBERT: Yes, sir.
'MR. HUNDLEY: We challenge. ”