2004 term per curiam opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States

Full caption:	LaRoyce Lathair Smith v. Texas
Citations:	543 U.S. 37; 125 S. Ct. 400; 160 L. Ed. 2d 303; 2004 U.S. LEXIS 7668; 73 U.S.L.W. 3294; 18 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 6
Prior history:	Defendant convicted, Dallas County District Court, 1991; affirmed, No. 71,333 (Tex. Crim. App. June 22, 1994); cert. denied, 514 U.S. 1112 (1995); petition denied, 977 S.W.2d 610 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998); cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1148 (1999); petition denied, 132 S.W.3d 407 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004)
Subsequent history:	On remand, affirmed, sub nom. Ex parte Smith, 185 S.W.3d 455 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006)
Full text of the opinion:	official slip opinion

Full caption:	City of San Diego, California, San Diego City Police Department; David Bejarano; George Saldamando; Glenn Breitenstein v. John Roe
Citations:	543 U.S. 77; 125 S. Ct. 521; 160 L. Ed. 2d 410; 2004 U.S. LEXIS 8165; 150 Lab. Cas. (CCH) P59,918; 22 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1; 18 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 21
Prior history:	Dismissed, No. 01-01760, S.D. Cal.; reversed and remanded, 356 F.3d 1108 (9th Cir. 2004)
Full text of the opinion:	official slip opinion

Full caption:	Rochelle Brosseau v. Kenneth J. Haugen
Citations:	543 U.S. 194; 125 S. Ct. 596; 160 L. Ed. 2d 583; 2004 U.S. LEXIS 8275; 73 U.S.L.W. 3350; 18 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 48
Prior history:	Judgment for defendant, W.D. Wa.; reversed, 339 F.3d 857 (9th Cir. 2003); amended, rehearing denied, rehearing en banc denied, 351 F.3d 372 (9th Cir. 2003)
Full text of the opinion:	official slip opinion

Full caption:	Marlon Latodd Howell, aka Marlon Cox v. Mississippi
Citations:	543 U.S. 440; 125 S. Ct. 856; 160 L. Ed. 2d 873; 2005 U.S. LEXIS 1371; 18 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 105
Prior history:	Defendant convicted, Union County Circuit Court; affirmed, 860 So. 2d 704 (Miss. 2003); rehearing denied, No. 2001-DP-01104-SCT, 2003 Miss. LEXIS 857 (Miss. Dec. 18, 2003)
Subsequent history:	Rehearing denied, 544 U.S. 944 (2005)
Full text of the opinion:	official slip opinion

Full caption:	Ricky Bell, Warden v. Gary Bradford Cone
Citations:	543 U.S. 447; 125 S. Ct. 847; 160 L. Ed. 2d 881; 2005 U.S. LEXIS 1369; 73 U.S.L.W. 3432; 18 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 97
Prior history:	Petition denied, 956 F. Supp. 1401 (W.D. Tenn. 1997); affirmed in part, reversed, 243 F.3d 961 (6th Cir. 2001); rehearing denied, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 11606 (6th Cir. June 1, 2001); cert. granted, 534 U.S. 1064 (2001); reversed, 535 U.S. 685 (2002); on remand, reversed, 359 F.3d 785 (6th Cir. 2004); rehearing denied, rehearing en banc denied, No. 99-5279, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 14439 (6th Cir. June 22, 2004)
Subsequent history:	Rehearing denied, 544 U.S. 944 (2005)
Full text of the opinion:	official slip opinion

Full caption:	Jose Ernesto Medellín v. Doug Dretke, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division
Citations:	544 U.S. 660; 125 S. Ct. 2088; 161 L. Ed. 2d 982; 2005 U.S. LEXIS 4344; 73 U.S.L.W. 4381; 18 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 308
Prior history:	Petition denied, S.D. Tex.; certificate of appealability denied, 371 F.3d 270 (5th Cir. 2004); cert. granted, 543 U.S. 1032 (2005)
Subsequent history:	On remand, sub nom. Ex parte Medellín, 223 S.W. 3d 315 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006); cert. granted 550 U.S. ___ (2007); aff'd, sub nom. Medellín v. Texas, 552 U.S. 491 (2008); stay and petition denied, 554 U.S. ___ (2008) (Medellín III)
Full text of the opinion:	official slip opinion

The Supreme Court of the United States handed down six per curiam opinions during its 2004 term, which began October 4, 2004 and concluded October 3, 2005.

Because per curiam decisions are issued from the Court as an institution, these opinions all lack the attribution of authorship or joining votes to specific justices. All justices on the Court at the time the decision was handed down are assumed to have participated and concurred unless otherwise noted.

Chief Justice: William Rehnquist

Associate Justices: John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer

543 U.S. 37
Decided November 15, 2004.
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed and remanded.

The state court upheld a death sentence over the defendant's argument that the jury instructions prevented the full consideration of his mitigation evidence. The court found the instructions, which permitted the jury to consider mitigation only if it nullified two questions regarding the defendant's deliberateness in the crime, to be either irrelevant, because the defendant's mitigation evidence was constitutionally insufficient, or sufficiently distinguishable from instructions the Court had previously found unconstitutional. The Supreme Court reversed, ruling that the defendant had presented evidence relevant to mitigation, which the state court found insufficient by applying an incorrect and unduly strict test. The Court also ruled that the nullification instructions were constitutionally inadequate.

Justice Scalia, joined by Justice Thomas, dissented, stating without elaboration that he would have affirmed.

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