No. 19-7689

Nicholas Todd Sutton v. Tennessee

Lower Court: Tennessee
Docketed: 2020-02-18
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: capital-punishment fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment retroactivity vagueness 5th-amendment capital-punishment due-process fair-notice fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment johnson-v-united-states retroactivity vagueness vagueness-doctrine
Key Terms:
AdministrativeLaw DueProcess FifthAmendment HabeasCorpus
Latest Conference: N/A
Question Presented (from Petition)

Did Tennessee decisions applying the facially-vague prior violent felony aggravating circumstance, not handed down until after Sutton committed his capital offense, provide Sutton the fair notice required under Johnson v. United States and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether Tennessee's facially-vague prior violent felony aggravating circumstance provided fair notice as required under Johnson v. United States and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments

Docket Entries

2020-02-20
Application (19A910) referred to the Court.
2020-02-20
Petition DENIED.
2020-02-20
Application (19A910) denied by the Court.
2020-02-19
Brief of respondent Tennessee in opposition filed.
2020-02-19
Reply of petitioner Nicholas Todd Sutton filed.
2020-02-18
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due March 19, 2020)
2020-02-18
Application (19A910) for a stay of execution of sentence of death, submitted to Justice Sotomayor.

Attorneys

Nicholas Sutton
Stephen Michael KissingerFederal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, Petitioner
State of Tennessee
Zachary Thomas HinkleTennessee Attorney General & Reporter, Respondent