Richard Boyde v. California

494 U.S. 370 · Decided March 5, 1990 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Richard Boyde v. California was decided on March 5, 1990 by a vote of 5–4. The Court affirmed the lower court's decision. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Cruel and unusual punishment, death penalty” 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

Richard Boyde v. California

SCDB identifiers: case 1989-043, docket 1989-043-01.

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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