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Facts
of the case:
- Frank Palka, not Palko as
erroneously recorded by the clerk of the Supreme Court, was a 23- year
old aircraft riveter from Connecticut.
- One day he broke into a
music store, stole a radio, and fled by foot.
Streets ahead he was cornered by two police officers, he killed both
of them.
- He then escaped, and was
arrested one month later.
- Frank Palka, was charged
with 1st degree murder at first but instead he was convicted of the
lesser offense of second-degree murder and given a sentence of life
imprisonment.
- A Connecticut Statute allowed
the state prosecutor to appeal the judgment of the trial court if there
was a serious trial error.
- A new trial was held, Palka
was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to death by electrocution.
- Palka, appealed the second
conviction to the Supreme Court arguing that the Fifth Amendment protection
against double jeopardy was absorbed into the Fourteenth amendment “due
process” clause.
Connecticut’s
retrial:
- The states appeal to re-trial
were based on that there had been error of law to the prejudice of the
state
(1) in excluding testimony as to a confession by defendant;
(2) in excluding testimony upon cross-examination of defendant to impeach
his credibility, and
(3) in the instructions to the jury as to the difference between first
and second degree murder.
Decision of the
case:
In an 8:1 decision the court
validated Frank Palka’s death sentence. This opinion was written
in majority by highly respected Justice Benjamin Cardozo.
Cardozo believed and admitted that 1st amendment’s freedoms of speech,
assembly, and religion were “fundamental” for society’s
liberty and justice.
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