US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
JOHNSON V. UNITED STATES, 401 U. S. 846 (1971)
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Johnson v. United States, 401 U.S. 846 (1971)
Johnson v. United States
No. 5247
Argued March 24, 1971
Decided April 5, 1971
401 U.S. 846
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
138 U.S.App.D.C. 174, 426 F.2d 651, certiorari dismissed as improvidently granted.
PER CURIAM.
The writ of certiorari is dismissed as improvidently granted.
THE CHIEF JUSTICE took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.
MR. JUSTICE STEWART, with whom MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS joins, dissenting.
In the petitioner's trial on a charge of rape, the District Judge instructed the jury that it could return a verdict of guilty with the death penalty. Yet that verdict was constitutionally impermissible in light of this Court's decision in United States v. Jackson, 390 U. S. 570. See Bailey v. United States, 132 U.S.App.D.C. 82, 86 and n. 3, 405 F.2d 1352, 1356 and n. 3. I think the extreme prejudice arising from this erroneous instruction requires reversal of the judgment of conviction and a remand of this case for a new trial. Cf. Price v. Georgia, 398 U. S. 323, 398 U. S. 331-332.