Blanton v. City of North Las Vegas

1989 United States Supreme Court case

Blanton v. North Las Vegas
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 9, 1989 Decided March 6, 1989
Full case name	Blanton et al. v. City of North Las Vegas, Nevada
Citations	489 U.S. 538 (more) 109 S. Ct. 1289; 103 L. Ed. 2d 550
Case history
Prior	103 Nev. 623, 748 P.2d 494 (1987); cert. granted, 487 U.S. 1203 (1988).
Holding
The right to a jury trial is not found in crimes where the maximum period of incarceration is under six months.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
Case opinion
Majority	Marshall, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. VI

Blanton v. North Las Vegas, 489 U.S. 538 (1989), is a United States Supreme Court case clarifying the limitations of the right to trial by jury.

Background

Melvin R. Blanton was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. His petition for a jury trial was denied and he was instead given a bench trial. Blanton appealed, arguing that his Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury had been violated.

Opinion of the Court

The Court ruled that Blanton did not have the right to a jury trial because the crime he was charged with was "petty" because it carries a maximum prison term of six months or less. The Court went on to elaborate: "we do find it appropriate to presume for purposes of the Sixth Amendment that society views such an offense as 'petty.' A defendant is entitled to a jury trial in such circumstances only if he can demonstrate that any additional statutory penalties, viewed in conjunction with the maximum authorized period of incarceration, are so severe that they clearly reflect a legislative determination that the offense in question is a 'serious' one."^[1]

References

^ Blanton v. City of North Las Vegas, 489 U.S. 538, 543 (1989).

External links

Text of Blanton v. City of North Las Vegas, 489 U.S. 538 (1989) is available from: Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)

United States Sixth Amendment case law

Speedy Trial Clause
Klopfer v. North Carolina (1967) Barker v. Wingo (1972) Doggett v. United States (1992) Betterman v. Montana (2016)

Public Trial Clause
In re Oliver (1948) Presley v. Georgia (2010)

Impartial Jury Clause

Availability	Cheff v. Schnackenberg (1966) Duncan v. Louisiana (1968) Blanton v. City of North Las Vegas (1989)
Impartiality	Reynolds v. United States (1878) Glasser v. United States (1942) Irvin v. Dowd (1961) Sheppard v. Maxwell (1966) Witherspoon v. Illinois (1968) Ham v. South Carolina (1973) Ristaino v. Ross (1976) Adams v. Texas (1980) Rosales-Lopez v. United States (1981) Wainwright v. Witt (1985) Morgan v. Illinois (1992) Skilling v. United States (2010) McDonnell v. United States (2016) United States v. Tsarnaev (2022)
Facts found	Walton v. Arizona (1990) Almendarez-Torres v. United States (1998) Jones v. United States (1999) Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000) Harris v. United States (2002) Ring v. Arizona (2002) Blakely v. Washington (2004) Schriro v. Summerlin (2004) United States v. Booker (2005) Washington v. Recuenco (2006) Cunningham v. California (2007) Oregon v. Ice (2009) Southern Union Co. v. United States (2012) Alleyne v. United States (2013) Hurst v. Florida (2016) United States v. Haymond (2019) Erlinger v. United States (2024)
Size and unanimity	Maxwell v. Dow (1900) Rassmussen v. United States (1905) Williams v. Florida (1970) Apodaca v. Oregon (1972) Ballew v. Georgia (1978) Burch v. Louisiana (1979) Ramos v. Louisiana (2020) Edwards v. Vannoy (2021)
Vicinage Clause	United States v. Dawson (1853) Burton v. United States (1905, 1906) Smith v. United States (2023)
Impeachment of verdicts	Tanner v. United States (1987) Warger v. Shauers (2014) Peña-Rodriguez v. Colorado (2017)

Information Clause
Rabe v. Washington (1972)

Confrontation Clause

Out-of-court statements	Reynolds v. United States (1878) Dowdell v. United States (1911) Pointer v. Texas (1965) Bruton v. United States (1968) Frazier v. Cupp (1969) Illinois v. Allen (1970) Ohio v. Roberts (1980) Crawford v. Washington (2004) Davis v. Washington (2006) Whorton v. Bockting (2007) Giles v. California (2008) Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts (2009) Michigan v. Bryant (2011) Bullcoming v. New Mexico (2011) Williams v. Illinois (2012) Ohio v. Clark (2015) Hemphill v. New York (2022) Samia v. United States (2023) Smith v. Arizona (2024)
Face-to-face confrontation	Maryland v. Craig (1990)
Restrictions on cross-examination	Chambers v. Mississippi (1973)

Compulsory Process Clause
Washington v. Texas (1967) United States v. Valenzuela-Bernal (1982) Taylor v. Illinois (1988)

Assistance of Counsel Clause

Choice	United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez (2006)
Appointment	Powell v. Alabama (1932) Johnson v. Zerbst (1938) Betts v. Brady (1942) Hamilton v. Alabama (1961) Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) Anders v. California (1967) Argersinger v. Hamlin (1972) Gagnon v. Scarpelli (1973) Scott v. Illinois (1979) Pennsylvania v. Finley (1987) Nichols v. United States (1994) Alabama v. Shelton (2002)
Conflict-free	Glasser v. United States (1942)
Ineffective assistance	Strickland v. Washington (1984) Nix v. Whiteside (1986) Kimmelman v. Morrison (1986) Lockhart v. Fretwell (1993) Williams v. Taylor (2000) Glover v. United States (2001) Bell v. Cone (2002) Woodford v. Visciotti (2002) Wiggins v. Smith (2003) Holland v. Jackson (2004) Wright v. Van Patten (2008) Bobby v. Van Hook (2009) Wong v. Belmontes (2009) Porter v. McCollum (2009) Padilla v. Kentucky (2010) Sears v. Upton (2010) Premo v. Moore (2011) Lafler v. Cooper (2012) Buck v. Davis (2017) Garza v. Idaho (2019)
Uncounseled statements	Massiah v. United States (1963) Brewer v. Williams (1977)
Pro se representation	Faretta v. California (1975) McKaskle v. Wiggins (1984) Rock v. Arkansas (1987) Martinez v. Court of Appeal of California (2000) Indiana v. Edwards (2008)