Alcorta v. Texas

Alcorta v. Texas
Alcorta v. Texas
	Supreme Court of the United States
Decided November 12, 1957
Full case name	Alcorta v. Texas
Citations	355 U.S. 28 (more)
Holding
	Perjury from a prosecution witness is a due process violation when the prosecutor knows the witness testimony is false.
Court membership
	Chief Justice Earl Warren Associate Justices Hugo Black · Felix Frankfurter; William O. Douglas · Harold H. Burton; Tom C. Clark · John M. Harlan II; William J. Brennan Jr. · Charles E. Whittaker
Case opinion
	Per curiam

Alcorta v. Texas, 355 U.S. 28 (1957), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that perjury from a prosecution witness is a due process violation when the prosecutor knows the witness testimony is false.^[1]

Description

The prosecutor in this case told the witness to withhold information about a serious romantic relationship unless specifically asked about it, so the witness falsely claimed that the relationship was casual. The false statement was irrelevant to the prosecution's case and would have only gone to the witness's credibility; even so, the case was tainted such that the Supreme Court reversed the defendant's conviction.^[2]

References

^ Alcorta v. Texas, 355 U.S. 28 (1957)
^ Lieberman, Jethro K. (1999). "Perjured Testimony". A Practical Companion to the Constitution. p. 347.

External links

Text of Alcorta v. Texas, 355 U.S. 28 (1957) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Justia

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[1] Alcorta v. Texas, 355 U.S. 28 (1957)

[2] Lieberman, Jethro K. (1999). "Perjured Testimony". A Practical Companion to the Constitution. p. 347.

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