United States v. Miller (1985)

United States v Miller
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 16, 1985 Decided April 1, 1985
Full case name	United States v James Rual Miller
Docket no.	83-1750
Citations	471 U.S. 130 (more)
Argument	Oral argument
Opinion announcement	Opinion announcement
Case history
Prior	728 F.2d 1269, 715 F.2d 1360
Holding
The Fifth Amendment's Grand Jury Clause is not violated if a trial jury finds a defendant guilty without having found all of an indictment's parts proven.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Case opinion
Majority	Marshall, joined by Burger, Brennan, White, Blackmun, Rehnquist, Stevens, O'Connor
Powell took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
V Amendment, Grand Jury Clause
This case overturned a previous ruling or rulings
Ex parte Bain, 121 U.S. 1 (1887)

United States v. James Rual Miller, 471 U.S. 130 (1985) was a Supreme Court case in which the court held that the Fifth Amendment's Grand Jury Clause is not violated if a federal defendant is found guilty by a trial jury without having found "all" parts of an indictment proved. This case partly overruled Ex parte Bain in that a grand jury's indictment is not "final", and its scope for conviction may be narrowed by the prosecution during trial. This case allows for prosecutors to simply prove a defendant committed criminal acts at least mentioned in an indictment, but need not prove all the allegations in their entirety.