No. 23-7625

Henry Sowers v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections

Lower Court: Eleventh Circuit
Docketed: 2024-06-03
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
Response WaivedIFP
Tags: ada-accessibility americans-with-disabilities-act criminal-procedure due-process equal-protection hearing-impairment judicial-accessibility pro-se pro-se-defendant structural-error voir-dire
Key Terms:
DueProcess HabeasCorpus
Latest Conference: 2024-09-30
Question Presented (from Petition)

1. Does the State violate the American Disabilities Act by failing to provide
"Program Accessibility " to a hearing impaired Defendant (pro-se) in a
criminal judicial proceeding State Court; and in
Does the State violate the equal protections clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment, if the State Trial Court offers to make available a wheelchair
for a physical impairment but fails to provide a qualified interpreter, note
taker, computer aided transcription services, written materials, telephone
handset amplifier, telephones compatible with hearing aids, closed caption
decoders, open and closed captioning, telecommunication devices for deaf
persons, video text displays, and exchange of written notes for the hearing
impaired Pro-Se defendant in a criminal judicial proceeding, and
Would the failure of the Trial Judge to Sua Sponte strike two jurors who
admitted to being unable to being impartial cause reversible structural error,
when the defendant was unaware of the statements in Voir Dire until reading
the statements in post conviction transcripts due to disability (hearing
impaired)

2. Does the State violate Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment U.S.
Constitution, by prosecuting and convicting a citizen of two separate
statutory charges, wherein the elements for both charges are the same and
only separated by one word, and the separating word has the same context in
both instances, and would conviction and sentence on both charges based on
a single act incident violate the double jeopardy clause, when there is no
evidence that the State Legislature intended to have both charges included
on a single act incident.

3. Does the State initiate criminal process when it has procured a search
warrant, and would serving of the search warrant constitute a criminal
proceeding thus activating the alleged defendant 's Constitutional Rights to
include Right to Counsel 6th Amendment and 5th Amendment Right against
being a witness against oneself, and 14th Amendment U.S. Constitution of
Due Process of Law and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th
Amendment; and
Do the Courts of Equity and the Equity Doctrine admit for relief when no
other relief is available, wherein the Petitioner files a timely, legally
sufficient petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to Article 1 Section 9
of the United States Constitution regardless of the limitations of the Federal
Statute 28 USC 2254 to review the Constitutional claims of an unlawful
detention of a citizen resulting from a conviction in State Court.

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Does the State violate the ADA and Equal Protection Clause by failing to provide accessibility accommodations for a hearing-impaired pro-se defendant in a criminal proceeding?

Docket Entries

2024-10-07
Petition DENIED.
2024-06-20
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/30/2024.
2024-06-13
Waiver of right of respondent Ricky Dixon to respond filed.
2024-05-07
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due July 3, 2024)

Attorneys

Henry Sowers
Henry Sowers — Petitioner
Ricky Dixon
Rebecca Rock McGuiganOffice of Florida Attorney General , Respondent