NORTH CAROLINA v. PEARCE

No. 413.

395 U.S. 711 (1969)

NORTH CAROLINA ET AL. v. PEARCE.

Supreme Court of United States.

Decided June 23, 1969.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Andrew A. Vanore, Jr., argued the cause for petitioners in No. 413. With him on the brief was Thomas Wade Bruton, Attorney General of North Carolina, joined in and adopted by the Attorneys General for their respective States as follows: MacDonald Gallion of Alabama, David P. Buckson of Delaware, John B. Breckinridge of Kentucky, Jack P. F. Gremillion of Louisiana, James S. Erwin of Maine, Joe T. Patterson of Mississippi, Forrest H. Anderson of Montana, Clarence A. H. Meyer of Nebraska, Arthur J. Sills of New Jersey, William C. Sennett of Pennsylvania, Herbert F. DeSimone of Rhode Island, Daniel R. McLeod of South Carolina, George F. McCanless of Tennessee, Crawford C. Martin of Texas, Bronson C. LaFollette of Wisconsin, and James E. Barrett of Wyoming; and Paul J. Abbate, Attorney General, for the Territory of Guam. Paul T. Gish, Jr., Assistant Attorney General of Alabama, argued the cause for petitioner in No. 418. With him on the brief was MacDonald Gallion, Attorney General.

Larry B. Sitton, by appointment of the Court, 393 U.S. 973, argued the cause and filed a brief for respondent in No. 413. Thomas S. Lawson, Jr., argued the cause for respondent in No. 418. With him on the brief was Oakley Melton, Jr., by appointment of the Court, 393 U.S. 1010.

Robert C. Londerholm, Attorney General, and Edward G. Collister, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, filed a brief for the State of Kansas as amicus curiae in No. 413. William W. Van Alstyne and Melvin L. Wulf filed a brief for the American Civil Liberties Union et al. as amici curiae in both cases.


MR. JUSTICE STEWART delivered the opinion of the Court.

When at the behest of the defendant a criminal conviction has been set aside and a new trial ordered, to what extent does the Constitution limit the imposition of a harsher sentence after conviction upon retrial? That is the question presented by these two cases.

In No. 413 the respondent Pearce was convicted in a North Carolina court upon a charge of assault with intent to commit rape. The trial judge...

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