Legal Opinion
O'NEAL v. McAninch
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided February 21, 1995No. 93-7407PublishedCited by 1,551 opinions
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Breyer
Reviewing courts normally disregard trial errors that are harmless. This case asks us to decide whether a federal ha- beas court should consider a trial error harmless when the court (1) reviews a state-court judgment from a criminal trial, (2) finds a constitutional error, and (3) is in grave doubt about whether or not that error is harmless. We recognize that this last mentioned circumstance, “grave doubt,” is unusual. Normally a record review will permit a judge to make up his or her mind about the matter. And indeed a judge has an obligation to do so. But we consider here the legal rule…
2Cases cited25 opinions
- Chapman v. CaliforniaSupreme Court of the United States · 1967
- United States v. OlanoSupreme Court of the United States · 1993
- In Re WINSHIPSupreme Court of the United States · 1970
- Kotteakos v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1946
- Brecht v. AbrahamsonSupreme Court of the United States · 1993
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3Cited by1,551 opinions
- Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs v. SandersSupreme Court of the United States · 2009
- Lee A. Rand v. James Rowland Nadim Khoury, M.D., William Bunnell Roy Lee Johnson Leo R. EstesCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 1998
- William George Bonin v. Arthur Calderon, as Warden of San Quentin State Prison James Rowland, Director of the California Department of CorrectionsCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 1995
- State v. GuthrieWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1995
- Fry v. PlilerSupreme Court of the United States · 2007
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