Bullington v. Missouri

Stroud v. United States, 251 U. S. 15 (1919), concerned a defendant who was convicted of first-degree murder and sen*432tenced to life imprisonment, and who then obtained, upon confession of error by the Solicitor General, a reversal of his conviction and a new trial. This Court, by a unanimous vote in that case, held that the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment1 did not bar the imposition of the death penalty when Stroud at his new trial was again convicted.

The issue in the present case is whether the reasoning of Stroud is also to apply under a system where a jury’s sentencing…