Crane v. Kentucky

Decided June 9, 1986. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 85-5238 · 476 U.S. 683 (1986) · Cited 2,651 times

Holding

The exclusion of the testimony about the circumstances of his confession deprived petitioner of his fundamental constitutional right whether under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment or under the Compulsory Process or Confrontation Clauses of the Sixth Amendment to a fair opportunity to present a defense.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Jackson v. Denno · 378 U.S. 368 (1964)
• Chambers v. Mississippi · 410 U.S. 284 (1973)
• Lego v. Twomey · 404 U.S. 477 (1972)
• Delaware v. Van Arsdall · 475 U.S. 673 (1986)
• California v. Trombetta · 467 U.S. 479 (1984)
• Washington v. Texas · 388 U.S. 14 (1967)
• Strickland v. Washington · 466 U.S. 668 (1984)
• United States v. Cronic · 466 U.S. 648 (1984)
• Davis v. Alaska · 415 U.S. 308 (1974)
• In Re Oliver · 333 U.S. 257 (1948)
• Miller v. Fenton · 474 U.S. 104 (1985)
• Grannis v. Ordean · 234 U.S. 385 (1914)
• Sims v. Georgia · 385 U.S. 538 (1967)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Montana v. Egelhoff · 518 U.S. 37 (1996)
• Holmes v. South Carolina · 547 U.S. 319 (2006)
• Taylor v. Illinois · 484 U.S. 400 (1988)
• United States v. Scheffer · 523 U.S. 303 (1998)
• Simmons v. South Carolina · 512 U.S. 154 (1994)
• O'Dell v. Netherland · 521 U.S. 151 (1997)
• Gilmore v. Taylor · 508 U.S. 333 (1993)
• Clark v. Arizona · 548 U.S. 735 (2006)
• Arizona v. Fulminante · 499 U.S. 279 (1991)
• United States v. Gaudin · 515 U.S. 506 (1995)
• Nevada v. Jackson · 569 U.S. 505 (2013)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Sandra Day O'Connor’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1986). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).