No. 23-5823

Ramiro Felix Gonzales v. Texas

Lower Court: Texas
Docketed: 2023-10-17
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: constitutional-claim death-penalty eighth-amendment expert-testimony fourteenth-amendment future-dangerousness recantation texas-code-criminal-procedure
Latest Conference: 2024-02-16
Question Presented (from Petition)

Where a State conditions a death sentence on a jury's unanimous finding beyond a reasonable doubt that "there is a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society,"

(1) Does the recantation by the State's expert witness of his trial testimony as to the defendant's "future dangerousness" give rise to a cognizable constitutional claim under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments that the defendant's death sentence is insufficiently reliable to be allowed to stand?

(2) If such a recantation raises either a cognizable Eighth or Fourteenth Amendment claim, does a state court err in refusing to entertain them based on its own misunderstanding of the claim being advanced?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether a state court errs in refusing to entertain a cognizable Eighth or Fourteenth Amendment claim based on a state expert's recantation of trial testimony on the issue of the defendant's future dangerousness

Docket Entries

2024-02-20
Petition DENIED.
2024-02-15
Response to motion to defer consideration from respondent filed.
2024-02-06
Motion to defer consideration of the petition for a writ of certiorari filed by petitioner Ramiro Gonzales.
2024-02-01
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/16/2024.
2024-01-26
Reply of petitioner Ramiro Felix Gonzales filed.
2024-01-16
Brief of respondent Texas in opposition filed.
2023-12-15
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including January 16, 2024.
2023-12-14
Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 15, 2023 to January 16, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
2023-11-17
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including December 15, 2023.
2023-11-16
Motion to extend the time to file a response from November 16, 2023 to December 15, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
2023-10-12
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due November 16, 2023)
2023-08-30
Application (23A194) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until October 12, 2023.
2023-08-22
Application (23A194) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from September 12, 2023 to November 11, 2023, submitted to Justice Alito.

Attorneys

Ramiro Gonzales
Raoul D. SchonemannUniversity of Texas School of Law, Petitioner
State of Texas
Matthew Dennis OttowayAssistant Attorney General, Respondent