Lockhart, a. L., Director, Arkansas Department of Correction v. Nelson, Johnny Lee

Decided November 14, 1988. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 87-1277 · 488 U.S. 33 (1988) · Cited 1,183 times

Holding

When a reviewing court determines that a defendant's conviction must be set aside because certain evidence was erroneously admitted against him, and further finds that once that evidence is discounted, there is insufficient evidence to support the conviction, the Double Jeopardy Clause does not forbid his retrial so long as the sum of the evidence offered by the State and admitted by the trial court whether erroneously or not would have been sufficient to sustain a guilty verdict.

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 6–3.

“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.

• Burks v. United States · 437 U.S. 1 (1978)
• United States v. Tateo · 377 U.S. 463 (1964)
• Greene v. Massey · 437 U.S. 19 (1978)
• Tibbs v. Florida · 457 U.S. 31 (1982)
• Green v. United States · 355 U.S. 184 (1957)
• United States v. Ball · 163 U.S. 662 (1896)
• Hudson v. Louisiana · 450 U.S. 40 (1981)
• North Carolina v. Pearce · 395 U.S. 711 (1969)
• Benton v. Maryland · 395 U.S. 784 (1969)
• Oregon v. Kennedy · 456 U.S. 667 (1982)
• United States v. Scott · 437 U.S. 82 (1978)
• United States v. DiFrancesco · 449 U.S. 117 (1980)
• Bullington v. Missouri · 451 U.S. 430 (1981)
• Ex Parte Garland · 71 U.S. 333 (1867)
• Justices of Boston Municipal Court v. Lydon · 466 U.S. 294 (1984)

Cited by

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

• McDaniel v. Brown · 558 U.S. 120 (2010)
• Caspari v. Bohlen · 510 U.S. 383 (1994)
• Schiro v. Farley · 510 U.S. 222 (1994)
• Price, Warden v. Vincent · 538 U.S. 634 (2003)

Official text

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

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William Hubbs Rehnquist’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1988). 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).