No. 21-6500

Jermaine Neal v. Mississippi

Lower Court: Mississippi
Docketed: 2021-12-03
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
Response WaivedIFP
Tags: actual-innocence constructive-amendment criminal-investigation due-process false-confession fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment perjury self-incrimination sixth-amendment
Latest Conference: 2022-01-07
Question Presented (from Petition)

1. WHEN A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES BECOMES A SUSPECT IN A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION FOR HOMICIDE, AND FIRST, AS A RESULT OF BADGERING AND PESTERING FROM INVESTIGATORS—ALTHOUGH HE IS "ACTUALLY INNOCENT"—AND SECOND, AS A RESULT OF FEAR CAUSED BY THREAT AND INTIMIDATION—FROM THE ACTUAL PERPETRATORS WHO COMMITTED THE HOMICIDE—IS INDUCED TO GIVE FALSE STATEMENT(S) TO INVESTIGATORS THAT HE DID COMMIT THE CRIMINAL ACT, IS THIS CONCESSION TANTAMOUNT TO "PERJURY" AND "SELF-INCRIMINATION"; AND WHERE "NEWLY DISCOVERED EVIDENCE" BECOMES AVAILABLE THAT WOULD BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT EXONERATE THE CONVICTED, DOES THE "DUE PROCESS CLAUSE" OF THE "FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT" DEMAND AND GUARANTEE AN OPPORTUNITY TO PROVE ONE'S "ACTUAL INNOCENCE" AND "FACTUAL INNOCENCE"?

2. WHETHER THE PRINCIPLE AND RATIONALE OF THE COURT'S DECISION IN BULLCOMING V. NEW MEXICO IS APPLICABLE OR EXTENDS TO A STATE CASE WHERE THE STATED "FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST" WHO PERFORMED THE AUTOPSY—ON THE DECAPITATED CORPSE OF THE DECEASED—IS SUBPOENAED BUT HIS PRESENCE NOT SECURED, INSURED, OR ENSURED BY THE STATE FOR TRIAL IN THE STATE'S "CASE-IN-CHIEF" TO ALLOW THE ACCUSED TO CONFRONT AND TO EFFECTIVELY "CROSS-EXAMINE" THE PATHOLOGIST?

3. WHETHER THE "GRAND JURY CLAUSE" OF THE "FIFTH AMENDMENT" MADE APPLICABLE TO THE STATE VIA THE "FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT" AND THE "SIXTH AMENDMENT" RIGHT TO BE INFORMED OF THE NATURE AND CAUSE OF THE ACCUSATION ARE BOTH VIOLATED WHEN A FELONY CRIMINAL INDICTMENT OMITS THE "ESSENTIAL ELEMENT" AND "ESSENTIAL FACT" FROM THE INDICTMENT; AND DOES THE AMENDMENT TO THE INDICTMENT VIA THE STATE'S PROPOSED JURY INSTRUCTION TO CURE THE DEFECT CONSTITUTE A "CONSTRUCTIVE AMENDMENT," AN "AMENDMENT OF SUBSTANCE," REQUIRES AUTOMATIC REVERSAL WITH "DOUBLE JEOPARDY" ATTACHING?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

When a citizen of the United States becomes a suspect in a criminal investigation for homicide and is induced to give false statements, does the due-process-clause of the fourteenth-amendment guarantee an opportunity to prove actual-innocence

Docket Entries

2022-01-10
Petition DENIED.
2021-12-09
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/7/2022.
2021-12-06
Waiver of right of respondent Mississippi to respond filed.
2021-11-03
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due January 3, 2022)

Attorneys

Jermaine Neal
Jermaine Neal — Petitioner
Mississippi
Ashley Lauren SulserOffice of the Mississippi Attorney General, Respondent