Shafer v. South Carolina

Shafer v. South Carolina
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 9, 2001 Decided March 20, 2001
Full case name	Wesley Aaron Shafer, Jr., Petitioner v. South Carolina
Citations	532 U.S. 36 (more) 121 S. Ct. 1263; 149 L. Ed. 2d 178
Case history
Prior	On Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court of South Carolina
Holding
Where a capital defendant's future dangerousness is at issue, and the only sentencing alternative to death is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, due process entitles the defendant to inform the jury of his future parole ineligibility.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority	Ginsburg, joined by Rehnquist, Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Breyer
Dissent	Scalia
Dissent	Thomas
Laws applied
U.S. amend. VIII

Shafer v. South Carolina, 532 U.S. 36 (2001), was a United States Supreme Court case decided in 2001. The case concerned the ability of a defendant to tell the jury that, absent a penalty of death, a penalty of life imprisonment would not permit early release of a prisoner on parole. While the question had been decided in the case of Simmons v. South Carolina, this case dealt with the extent of the ruling.