''Stone v. Powell'', 428 U.S. 465 (1976),''Stone v. Powell'', 428

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

br>465
(1976) was decision of the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

that limited which claims of Fourth Amendment violations could be made by state prisoners in ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

'' petitions in federal courts. Specifically, a claim that the

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had been broken would be barred if state courts had already given it a full and fair hearing. The decision combined two cases that were argued before the Supreme Court on the same day with similar issues, one filed by Lloyd Powell (convicted of murder in California) and the other, titled ''Wolff v. Rice'', filed by David Rice (convicted of murder in Nebraska).

Procedural history of ''Stone v. Powell''

Background

On the night of February 16, 1968, Lloyd Powell and three friends were at a liquor store in

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cens ...

, California, when the store manager spotted Powell stealing a bottle of wine, and a gunfight broke out. During the fight, Powell shot and killed the manager's wife (Mary Parsons).''Lloyd Charles Powell v. W. T. Stone, Warden'', 507

F.2d The ''Federal Reporter'' () is a case law reporter in the United States that is published by West Publishing and a part of the National Reporter System. It begins with cases decided in 1880; pre-1880 cases were later retroactively compiled by We ...

br>93
(

9th Cir. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

1974) Around 10 AM the following morning, Powell was arrested in

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina * Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada * ...

, Nevada for violating the local vagrancy ordinance. The arresting officer found a revolver in his jacket that turned out to be the murder weapon, and he was extradited back to California.

Trial, appeal, and ''habeas corpus'' petition

Powell was tried for second-degree murder. He tried to prevent the revolver from being used as evidence, on the grounds that the vagrancy ordinance was unconstitutionally vague, and therefore his arrest and the officer's search were also unconstitutional, but the trial court found no problem with the ordinance. Evidence against Powell also included testimony from his friends and the store manager, and Powell was convicted. He appealed to the

California Court of Appeal The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along county lines into six appellate districts.

over the use of the revolver as evidence, but his conviction was affirmed. The Court of Appeal did not make a ruling on the constitutionality of the vagrancy ordinance; instead, it held that, even if it were an error for the trial court to allow the revolver as evidence, the strength of the other evidence made it a "

harmless error In United States law, a harmless error is a ruling by a trial judge that, although mistaken, does not meet the burden for a losing party to reverse the original decision of the trier of fact on appeal, or to warrant a new trial. Harmless error is ...

" under the standards of ''

Chapman v. California ''Chapman v. California'', 386 U.S. 18 (1967),''Chapman v. California'', 386 U.S.br>18(1967) was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that a federal "harmless error" rule must apply, instead of equivalent state rules, for reviewi ...

''. Powell then filed a ''habeas corpus'' petition with the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

, which was denied. Next, Powell filed a ''habeas corpus'' petition in the federal

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, raising the same issue, but the district court agreed with the California Court of Appeal. On appeal in 1974, however, the

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

reversed, ruling that the error was ''not'' harmless, and that the vagrancy ordinance was unconstitutionally vague, like the one invalidated in the 1972 Supreme Court case ''

Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville ''Papachristou v. Jacksonville'', 405 U.S. 156 (1972), was a United States Supreme Court case resulting in a Jacksonville vagrancy ordinance being declared unconstitutionally vague. The case was argued on December 8, 1971, and decided on February 2 ...

''. The prison warden, W.T. Stone, appealed to the Supreme Court on behalf of the state of California, and certiorari was granted.422 U. S. 1055 (1975) (granting certiorari in ''Stone v. Powell'' and ''Wolff v. Rice'')

Procedural history of ''Wolff v. Rice''

Background

In the early hours of August 17, 1970, police in Omaha, Nebraska received a report of a woman screaming for help. A suitcase was seen lying in the doorway at the reported location, and when an officer (Larry Minard, Sr.) approached, it exploded, killing him instantly and injuring other offices nearby.''State v. Rice'', 188 Neb
728
(1972) The following investigation centered on Duane Peak, a 15-year-old member of the National Committee to Combat Fascism (NCCF). 27-year-old David Rice was one of the known members of NCCF that police investigated as part of their search for Peak. The police went to Rice's home the night of August 22 to look for Peak. When no one answered the door, some officers stayed to watch the premises, while other obtained a search warrant. Once they had the warrant, the police entered and found a variety of explosive equipment. Peak and Rice would be arrested within the following few days. Peak admitted being the one to plant the bomb, and would testify that the masterminds had been Rice and another NCCF member, Edward Poindexter.

Trial, appeal, and ''habeas corpus'' petition

Rice and Poindexter were jointly tried for first-degree murder in the Douglas County district court. Among its evidence, the prosecution introduced evidence of the explosives it had found at Rice's house, as well as chemical traces of explosives found on the clothing Rice was wearing when he was arrested. Rice tried to

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