Donnelly v. Dechristoforo

416 U.S. 637 · Decided May 13, 1974 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Donnelly v. Dechristoforo was decided on May 13, 1974 by a vote of 6–3. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Extra-legal jury influences, prejudicial statements or evidence” in the Criminal Procedure area.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Full case caption

Donnelly v. Dechristoforo

SCDB identifiers: case 1973-103, docket 1973-103-01.

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Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

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Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error