Rose v. Clark

This case presents the question whether the harmless-error standard of Chapman v. California, 386 U. S. 18 (1967), applies to jury instructions that violate the principles of Sandstrom v. Montana, 442 U. S. 510 (1979), and Francis v. Franklin, 471 U. S. 307 (1985).1

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On December 30, 1978, Charles Browning and Joy Faulk were shot to death while they sat in Browning’s pickup truck in a remote area of Rutherford County, Tennessee. Respondent Stanley Clark, Faulk’s former boyfriend, was charged with the murders.

The evidence introduced at trial showed that Browning, Faulk, and Faulk’s two young…