KELLY v. SOUTH CAROLINA: certiorari to the supreme court of south carolina.

KELLY v. South Carolina (Supreme Court case); CRIMINAL judgments; CRIMINAL sentencing; CRIMINAL procedure; ALTERNATIVES to imprisonment; PAROLE; JURY; UNITED States. Supreme Court

The article presents information on the Supreme Court case Kelly v. South Carolina, number 00-9280, argued on November 26, 2001 and decided on January 9, 2002. The case considers whether the previous Supreme Court case Simmons v. South Carolina, granting due process to a defendant "to inform the jury of his parole ineligibility" if the sentence is life imprisonment, would be inapplicable under South Carolina's new sentencing scheme "because there are other alternative sentence to death." Justice David Souter delivered the opinion of the Court, which held that the defendant in this case was entitled to a jury instruction that he would be ineligible for parole under a life sentence under Simmons.