Keeler v. Superior Court
California judicial decision / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Keeler v. Superior Court, Supreme Court of California, 2 Cal. 3d 619 (1970), is a criminal case in which a man who deliberately killed a viable fetus in a woman, was determined not to be guilty of murder because the murder statute was written in 1850 when "human being" meant a person born alive, so there was no fair warning (legality), there being no common law crimes in California whereby statutory definitions can be changed by judicial decisions to broaden categories of crimes.[2]: 167–9
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Quick Facts Keeler v. Superior Court, Decided June 12, 1970 ...
Keeler v. Superior Court | |
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Decided June 12, 1970 | |
Full case name | Robert Harrison Keeler, Petitioner, v. The Superior Court of Amador County, Respondent; The People, Real Party in Interest. |
Citation(s) | 2 Cal. 3d 619; 470 P.2d 617; 87 Cal. Rptr. 481[1] |
Holding | |
A defendant who intentionally killed a viable fetus cannot be charged with murder, as the California Penal Code's murder statute only refers to those already born. | |
Court membership | |
Chief Justice | Louis H. Burke[lower-alpha 1] |
Associate Justices | Marshall F. McComb, Raymond E. Peters, Mathew Tobriner, Stanley Mosk, Raymond L. Sullivan, Paul Peek[lower-alpha 2] |
Case opinions | |
Majority | Mosk, joined by McComb, Peters, Tobriner, Peek |
Dissent | Burke, joined by Sullivan |
Laws applied | |
Cal. Penal Code § 187 |
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