No. 25-6926

Billy Leon Kearse v. Florida

Lower Court: Florida
Docketed: 2026-02-28
Status: Pending
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: appellate-review capital-punishment due-process-clause eighth-amendment intellectual-disability procedural-bar
Latest Conference: N/A
Question Presented (from Petition)

1. Given that the Florida Supreme Court affords a right to appeal to a capital defendant, even in the posture of a successive attempt to seek postconviction relief, does the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment require that appeal to be "'more than a 'meaningful ritual,'" Evitts v. Lucey, 469 U.S. 387, 394 (1985) (quoting Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353, 358 (1963)), or must it require the Florida Supreme Court to actually engage in meaningful appellate review of Mr. Kearse's constitutional claims and, if so, did the Florida Supreme Court's "review" of Mr. Kearse's claims violate Due Process?

2. Does the Florida Supreme Court's understanding of due diligence—unsupported by any case-specific context and steeped in hindsight—comport with this Court's definition of diligence as explained in Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 420 (2000), and Holland v. Florida, 560 U.S. 631 (2010)?

3. Can a state procedural bar, or a finding of a lack of diligence in bringing a claim of intellectual disability, override the Eighth Amendment prohibition against executing the intellectually disabled?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the Florida Supreme Court's failure to meaningfully engage with a capital defendant's constitutional claims, including intellectual disability claims, violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and whether state procedural bars can override the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on executing the intellectually disabled

Docket Entries

2026-02-28
Application (25A960) for a stay of execution of sentence of death, submitted to Justice Thomas.
2026-02-28
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed.

Attorneys

Billy Kearse
Suzanne Myers KefferCapital Collateral Regional Counsel - South, Petitioner