Home > Great American Court Cases > Bell v. Ohio

Legal Citation: 438 U.S. 637 (1978)

Petitioner
Willie Lee Bell

Respondent
State of Ohio

Petitioner's Claim
That his conviction of aggravated murder, which resulted in a death sentence under the Ohio death penalty statute, violated his rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution by preventing the sentencing judge from taking into account mitigating factors with regard to his character and intelligence.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner
H. Fred Hoefle

Chief Lawyer for Respondent
Leonard Kirschner

Justices for the Court
Harry A. Blackmun, Warren E. Burger (writing for the Court), Thurgood Marshall, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., John Paul Stevens, Potter Stewart, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting
William H. Rehnquist (William J. Brennan, Jr., did not participate)

Place
Washington,...