No. 19-6072

Thomas Joseph Eppelsheimer v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division

Lower Court: Fifth Circuit
Docketed: 2019-09-27
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: age-of-consent criminal-law due-process fifth-amendment ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mens-rea sexual-assault statutory-rape strickland-v-washington
Key Terms:
DueProcess HabeasCorpus Privacy
Latest Conference: 2019-11-22
Question Presented (from Petition)

Is Texas Penal Code §§ 21.11(a)(1), Indecency with a Child, and 22.011(a)(2), Sexual Assault of a Child, two statutory rape offenses that criminalize sexual contact and sexual intercourse based solely on the age of the participants, unconstitutional under the United States Constitution's Fifth Amendment right to Due Process of Law considering the statutes omit a consciousness of wrongdoing?

Was Eppelsheimer's trial attorney ineffective under this Court's holding in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) for advising Eppelsheimer to plead guilty to three counts of Sexual Assault of a Child and one count of Indecency with a Child even though he did not know the children were under the age of consent?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Is Texas Penal Code §§ 21.11(a)(1) and 22.011(a)(2) unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment right to Due Process?

Docket Entries

2019-11-25
Petition DENIED.
2019-11-07
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/22/2019.
2019-09-19
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due October 28, 2019)

Attorneys

Thomas Joseph Eppelsheimer
Thomas Joseph Eppelsheimer — Petitioner