# Brecht v. Abrahamson

> Supreme Court of the United States · June 7, 1993 · 507 U.S. 619

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9432781

## Case

- **Full name:** Brecht v. Abrahamson, Superintendent, Dodge Correctional Institution
- **Court:** Supreme Court of the United States
- **Decided:** June 7, 1993
- **Citations:** 507 U.S. 619; 113 S. Ct. 1710; 123 L. Ed. 2d 353; 1993 U.S. LEXIS 2981
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Blackmun
- **Judges:** Rehnquist, Stevens, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, White, Blackmun, Souter, O'Connor
- **Cited by:** 6,377 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- **Yellow flag:** Reported abrogated in part, on other grounds by Mitchell v. Esparza, 540 U.S. 12 (2003) — not on the Supreme Court's list.
- Negative treatments: 1
- Distinguished by: 2
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9432781

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that the Chapman harmless error standard, which requires the court to ask if absent the improperly admitted evidence, it is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury would have returned a verdict of guilty, was not appropriate when reviewing habeas petitions, and r…
- holding that “granting habeas relief merely because there is a ‘reasonable possibility’ that trial error contributed to the verdict” is inappropriate on collateral review, where the actual-prejudice standard is “better tailored to the nature and purpose of collateral review an…
- holding that, although the Court had applied the harmless-error standard set forth in Chapman v. California , 386 U.S. 18 , 87 S.Ct. 824 , 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967), to "a handful of federal habeas cases," it was not bound to the conclusion that harmless error applied to collatera…
- holding that the “less onerous” substantial-and-injurious harmless error standard established by Kotteakos v. U.S., 328 U.S. 750, 776, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946) is better tailored to the nature and purpose of collateral review than the “harmless beyond a reasonable d…
- concluding that prosecution's reference to petitioner's post- Miranda silence regarding circumstances of shooting were cumulative and thus had no substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining jury's verdict, given prosecution's "extensive and permissible referen…

## Opinion text

*650 Justice Blackmun,
dissenting.
I agree that “today’s decision cannot be supported even under Stone’s own terms,” ante, at 646 (White, J., dissenting). Therefore, I join Justice White’s dissent in its entirety.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9432781. Public record. Not legal advice.