No. 25-6912

Thomas Bartholomew Simpson v. Joseph Walters, Director, Virginia Department of Corrections

Lower Court: Fourth Circuit
Docketed: 2026-02-25
Status: Pending
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: cross-examination due-process fair-trial-rights foundational-objections prosecutorial-misconduct text-message-evidence
Latest Conference: N/A
Question Presented (from Petition)

I. Whether it requires the circuit court to probe lay witness tes
testimony or specialist forensic analysis testimony to overcome
foundational objections at a criminal trial to admission of text
messages in order to protect Due Proces rights to a fair hearing
in accordance with the Constitutional protections.

II. Whether prosecutorialmisconduct occurred by the state and lay witness giving
improper expert testimony as to the foundation of the text messages in
violation of Due Process.

III. Whether prosecutorial misconduct occurred by allowing witness
to deny defendant the right to effectively cross-examination by
giving misl&adihggjury of hisgcharacter and trustworthlyness .

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether circuit courts must require rigorous foundational testimony or specialist forensic analysis to overcome evidentiary objections to text messages at criminal trial to protect due process rights to a fair hearing, and whether prosecutorial misconduct occurred through improper lay witness expert testimony and denial of effective cross-examination rights

Docket Entries

2025-08-22
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due March 27, 2026)
2025-08-06
Application (25A156) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until August 22, 2025.
2025-06-20
Application (25A156) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from June 23, 2025 to August 22, 2025, submitted to The Chief Justice.

Attorneys

Thomas Bartholomew Simpson
Thomas Bartholomew Simpson — Petitioner