SmartBrief
0
Confirm favorite deletion?
Constitutional Law Keyed to Choper
Kennedy v. Louisiana
Citation:
554 U.S. 407 (2008)Facts
In March 1998, Patrick Kennedy called 911 to report that his 8-year-old stepdaughter, L.H., had been raped. He initially claimed neighborhood boys had committed the crime. The victim was found bleeding profusely from severe vaginal injuries that required emergency surgery. Initially, both Kennedy and L.H. maintained that neighborhood boys were responsible. However, police investigation revealed inconsistencies in Kennedy’s story, including suspicious phone calls he made that morning about removing bloodstains from carpet before calling 911. About a month after Kennedy’s arrest, L.H. was removed from her mother’s custody, and later told her mother that Kennedy had raped her. At trial in 2003, L.H., then 13, testified against Kennedy. The jury convicted him of aggravated rape and unanimously determined he should be sentenced to death under Louisiana’s statute that authorized capital punishment for the rape of a child under 12 years of age. At the time of the Supreme Court’s decision, Louisiana was one of six states that had enacted laws permitting the death penalty for child rape, though no one had been executed for a non-homicide offense since the 1960s.
Only StudyBuddy Pro offers the complete Case Brief Anatomy*
Access the most important case brief elements for optimal case understanding.
*Case Brief Anatomy includes: Brief Prologue, Complete Case Brief, Brief Epilogue
- The Brief Prologue provides necessary case brief introductory information and includes:
Topic:
Identifies the topic of law and where this case fits within your course outline.Parties:
Identifies the cast of characters involved in the case.Procedural Posture & History:
Shares the case history with how lower courts have ruled on the matter.Case Key Terms, Acts, Doctrines, etc.:
A case specific Legal Term Dictionary.Case Doctrines, Acts, Statutes, Amendments and Treatises:
Identifies and Defines Legal Authority used in this case.
- The Case Brief is the complete case summarized and authored in the traditional Law School I.R.A.C. format. The Pro case brief includes:
Brief Facts:
A Synopsis of the Facts of the case.Rule of Law:
Identifies the Legal Principle the Court used in deciding the case.Facts:
What are the factual circumstances that gave rise to the civil or criminal case? What is the relationship of the Parties that are involved in the case.Issue(s):
Lists the Questions of Law that are raised by the Facts of the case.Holding:
Shares the Court's answer to the legal questions raised in the issue.Concurring / Dissenting Opinions:
Includes valuable concurring or dissenting opinions and their key points.Reasoning and Analysis:
Identifies the chain of argument(s) which led the judges to rule as they did.
- The Brief Prologue closes the case brief with important forward-looking discussion and includes:
Policy:
Identifies the Policy if any that has been established by the case.Court Direction:
Shares where the Court went from here for this case.