Thurgood Marshall

“ In addition, the petition poses a second question of profound constitutional significance: whether a defendant's waiver of his right to a jury in a capital sentencing proceeding is voluntary, knowing, and intelligent when no evidence indicates that he was aware of a state statute requiring the court to impose a life sentence if the sentencing jury failed to reach a unanimous decision. ”

“ In rejecting this claim the California Supreme Court clearly could not rely on the argument that the trial court's instruction fairly apprised Robertson of the relevant law. Rather, the court presumed as a matter of law that Robertson's counsel must have informed him of that part of the law as to which the trial court's statement was misleading. The court adopted this presumption in the absence of any evidence that Robertson's counsel had informed him, or indeed even knew, of the relevant rule of law. ”

“ Such a presumption is impossible to reconcile with this Court's decisions placing on the state the burden of establishing a valid waiver of a fundamental constitutional right. See, e.g., Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U.S. 625, 633, 106 S.Ct. 1404, 1409, 89 L.Ed.2d 631 (1986) . ”