No. 20-5407

Dominique Mack v. United States

Lower Court: Second Circuit
Docketed: 2020-08-19
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
Relisted (4)IFP
Tags: confrontation-clause criminal-procedure cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process evidence jailhouse-informant mandatory-minimum mandatory-sentencing plain-error sentencing statements-against-interest
Key Terms:
FifthAmendment DueProcess Punishment
Latest Conference: 2021-06-17 (distributed 4 times)
Question Presented (from Petition)

1. Should the Court should grant certiorari in order to consider whether this
Court's jurisprudence concerning the admission of statements against interest
was violated by the district court's admitting into evidence the jailhouse
informant Farmer's testimony that co-defendant Miller had told him that
Mack killed Francis?

2. Should the Court should grant certiorari in order to resolve a conflict
among the circuits as to whether plain error is established where an
indictment fails to set forth an essential element of an offense, the district
court fails to instruct a jury as to an essential element of an offense, and a
jury returns a verdict of guilty without any finding that an essential element
of the offense has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt?

3. Should the Court should grant certiorari in order to consider a glitch in
the sentencing statutes, where the statutes impose a mandatory life sentence
"in the case of a killing" and the defendant has been convicted of a conspiracy
to murder in which there was no killing?

4. Does the imposition of mandatory life sentences for convictions of
conspiracies to murder where no one has suffered physical harm violate the
Fifth Amendment guarantee of due process, the Eighth Amendment
prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, and the separation of
powers doctrine?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the district court's admission of jailhouse informant testimony violated this Court's jurisprudence on statements against interest

Docket Entries

2021-06-21
Petition DENIED.
2021-06-14
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/17/2021.
2020-12-23
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/8/2021.
2020-12-04
Rescheduled.
2020-12-03
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/8/2021.
2020-11-16
Rescheduled.
2020-11-05
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/20/2020.
2020-10-16
Memorandum of respondent United States filed.
2020-09-11
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 19, 2020.
2020-09-09
Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 18, 2020 to October 19, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
2020-08-14
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due September 18, 2020)

Attorneys

Dominique Mack
Jeremiah DonovanAttorney at Law, Petitioner
United States
Elizabeth B. PrelogarActing Solicitor General, Respondent