| 24-6182 |
Daniel O. Conahan, Jr. v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. |
Eleventh Circuit |
2024-12-20 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant certificate-of-appealability circuit-split due-process habeas-corpus procedural-review |
1) There is a circuit split among the courts of appeal in the procedures a court applies when reviewing applications for a certificate of appealabilit… |
| 24-5910 |
Robert Ward Frazier v. California |
California |
2024-11-05 |
Denied |
IFP |
autonomy-right capital-defendant counsel-objection fundamental-objectives mitigation-defense sixth-amendment |
Is a capital defendant deprived of their Sixth Amendment autonomy right to determine the fundamental objectives of their defense, as recognized by thi… |
| 24-5326 |
Thomas E. Knuff, Jr. v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2024-08-15 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant criminal-acts due-process improper-joinder jury-verdict prosecutorial-misconduct |
1) Does the admission of improper and prejudicial evidence of other criminal acts by way of improper joinder violate a capital defendant's right to du… |
| 23-5667 |
Michael Duane Zack v. Ron Desantis, Governor of Florida, et al. |
Eleventh Circuit |
2023-09-28 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant capital-punishment clemency clemency-proceedings due-process executive-discretion meaningful-access notice notice-requirements procedural-fairness unenforceable-rules |
1. Whether the right to minimal Due Process required in clemency proceedings is satisfied when the governing rules are unenforceable, subject to chang… |
| 22-7632 |
Kristofer D. Garrett v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2023-05-24 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant plain-error-test public-trial sixth-amendment structural-error substantial-rights |
Does a state court finding of structural error, based on a violation of a capital defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a public trial, satisfy the pla… |
| 22-7134 |
Christopher L. Whitaker v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2023-03-28 |
Denied |
IFP |
14th-amendment 5th-amendment 6th-amendment 8th-amendment capital-defendant capital-punishment eighth-amendment fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment mitigation-evidence self-incrimination sixth-amendment |
By compelling the Petitioner to undergo a pretrial psychological evaluation to rebut a mitigation claim it knew he was not making, and prohibiting him… |
| 22-7046 |
Valdamir Fred Morelos v. California |
California |
2023-03-21 |
Dismissed |
IFP |
autonomy-right capital-defendant capital-defendants counsel-consent due-process guilty-plea mccoy-v-louisiana penal-code penal-code-section-1018 right-to-autonomy sixth-amendment |
Does California's Penal Code Section 1018, which bars a capital defendant
from pleading guilty without the consent of his counsel, violate capital def… |
| 22-6882 |
David Byron Russ v. Florida |
Florida |
2023-02-28 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant capital-punishment criminal-procedure death-penalty due-process federal-courts habeas-corpus mental-competency review-claim state-court state-courts substantive-incompetency |
1. Whether a state court may refuse to review a capital defendant's claim of substantive incompetency? |
| 21-8279 |
Randy William Gay v. Arkansas |
Arkansas |
2022-06-29 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant capital-punishment effective-assistance-of-counsel fair-jury fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-selection sixth-amendment voir-dire |
1. Whether a capital defendant's Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments rights to a fair and impartial jury and to the effective assistance of counsel are vi… |
| 21-1357 |
James S. Tyler, III v. Darrel Vannoy, Warden |
Louisiana |
2022-04-18 |
Denied |
Amici (1) |
capital-defendant collateral-review criminal-procedure mccoy right-to-counsel sixth-amendment substantive-rule teague-bar |
1. Where a capital defendant objected to his attorney's concession of guilt, does the explicit text of
the Sixth Amendment and longstanding right to
c… |
| 21-7234 |
Dylann Storm Roof v. United States |
Fourth Circuit |
2022-03-01 |
Denied |
IFP |
6th-amendment capital-defendant constitutional-rights counsel counsel-authority defense-strategy due-process mental-health-mitigation mental-illness mitigating-evidence trial-procedure |
1. When a competent capital defendant and his counsel disagree on whether
to present mitigating evidence depicting him as mentally ill, who gets the
f… |
| 21-7061 |
John Lezell Balentine v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division |
Fifth Circuit |
2022-02-04 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant capital-sentencing circuit-split due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation-evidence schriro-v-landrigan sentencing trial-counsel |
Under Schriro v. Landrigan, 550 U.S. 465 (2007), does a capital defendant necessarily forfeit his right to allege trial counsel's ineffectiveness for … |
| 21-7015 |
Edward T. James v. Florida |
Florida |
2022-01-31 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant court-procedure criminal-procedure due-process habeas-corpus incompetency incompetency-claim mental-competency substantive-claim substantive-review |
1. Whether a court may refuse to review a capital defendant's substantive incompetency claim? |
| 21-5093 |
Stephen Dale Barbee v. Texas |
Texas |
2021-07-15 |
Denied |
IFP |
autonomy-right capital-defendant capital-punishment effective-assistance-of-counsel florida-v-nixon habeas-corpus habeas-review ineffective-assistance mccoy-v-louisiana sixth-amendment trial-counsel |
1) Whether the sate court's decision to foreclose habeas review of a capital defendant's claim under McCoy v. Louisiana contravenes federal law becaus… |
| 20-7605 |
Cody James Martinez v. Arizona |
Arizona |
2021-03-31 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant capital-trial cumulative-error due-process ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel pecuniary-gain right-to-counsel statutory-aggravator strickland-standard trial-counsel |
I.Trial counsel only ever met with Mr. Martinez for a total of 1:08 in the 2-½ years preceding this capital trial.
II.Arizona used a flawed premedita… |
| 20-7462 |
Anthony Kirkland v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2021-03-17 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant death-penalty fair-trial fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment impartial-jury ineffective-assistance sixth-amendment |
I. Are a capital defendant's rights to a fair trial by an impartial jury, as guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments, denied when on… |
| 20-7205 |
Leonardo Franqui v. Florida |
Florida |
2021-02-22 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant capital-punishment constitutional-interpretation due-process eighth-amendment hall-v-florida intellectual-disability jury-sentencing statutory-construction |
1. Is the Florida Supreme Court's understanding of the proper holistic evaluation to be conducted in order to assess a capital defendant's intellectua… |
| 20-6709 |
Lance Hundley v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2020-12-28 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant capital-sentencing constitutional-review death-penalty due-process fourteenth-amendment jury-determination mental-health self-representation sixth-amendment |
1.Do the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to
the U.S. Constitution forbid a trial court from
allowing a capital defendant with a
questionable mental he… |
| 20-240 |
Kentucky v. Larry Lamont White |
Kentucky |
2020-08-28 |
Denied |
Amici (1) |
atkins-v-virginia atkins-waiver capital-defendant capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-law due-process habeas-corpus intellectual-disability standing supreme-court-precedent |
Whether a capital defendant can waive a claim of intellectual disability under Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), and its progeny. |
| 19-8746 |
Scott A. Group v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2020-06-18 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant capital-punishment dna-evidence due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel new-evidence new-trial trial-court |
1. Does a state court deprive a capital defendant due process of law when it denies the defendant's request to present new evidence to challenge the c… |
| 19-8499 |
Ryan James Hoyt v. California |
California |
2020-05-19 |
Denied |
Amici (1)IFP |
capital-defendant compulsory-process conflict-of-interest due-process materiality-review state-bar |
Petitioner's attorney resigned from the California State Bar before Petitioner's sentencing date, and records indicate that during Petitioner's trial … |
| 19-8179 |
In Re Harold Wayne Nichols |
|
2020-04-03 |
Denied |
IFP |
28-usc-2244 capital-defendant court-of-appeals habeas-corpus jurisdiction jurisdictional-limits merits-adjudication retroactive-law statutory-interpretation successive-petitions |
1. When a capital defendant requests from a court of appeals authorization to file in a district court a second or successive habeas petition presenti… |
| 19-5592 |
Dawud Spaulding v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2019-08-15 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant capital-punishment defense-counsel due-process evidence ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel legal-presumption post-conviction post-conviction-proceedings record record-evidence standard-of-review strategic-decision strategic-decision-making |
1. Should courts presume defense counsel acted strategically, even when the evidence in the record demonstrates a lack of strategy in their actions?
… |
| 18-9579 |
James D. Tench v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2019-06-07 |
Denied |
IFP |
aggravating-circumstances capital-defendant capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty' 'When a reviewing court independen due-process evidence-admission guilty-verdict hurst-v-florida jury jury-verdict mitigating-factors prejudicial-evidence sixth-amendment |
1. Does the admission of improper and prejudicial evidence violate a capital defendant's right to due process where the record indicates that the jury… |
| 18-8432 |
Kelly Foust v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2019-03-15 |
Denied |
Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP |
capital-defendant capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-interpretation criminal-procedure death-penalty hurst-precedent hurst-v-florida jury jury-waiver sixth-amendment |
Does Ohio's death penalty scheme in which a jury's death verdict is a mere recommendation and in which a death sentence may not be imposed unless a ju… |
| 18-7201 |
Mark Isaac Snarr v. United States |
Fifth Circuit |
2019-01-02 |
Denied |
IFP |
18-usc-3599 ake-v-oklahoma appellate-review ayestas-v-davis capital-case capital-defendant circuit-split due-process expert-services federal-funding fifth-circuit statutory-interpretation supreme-court-precedent |
Whether the Fifth Circuit disregarded this Court's precedent when it required petitioner to show that an expert was "critical" to his case before fund… |
| 18-6869 |
Mario Andrette McNeill v. North Carolina |
North Carolina |
2018-11-29 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant capital-defendant-instructions capital-punishment counsel counsel-decision-making cruel-and-unusual-punishment eighth-amendment mitigating-evidence right-to-counsel sixth-amendment |
Whether the Sixth Amendment right to counsel and the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment allow a state to give binding force … |
| 18-6252 |
Hersie Wesson v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2018-10-09 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defendant capital-punishment constitutional-right death-penalty due-process intellectual-disability opportunity-to-be-heard procedural-due-process state-courts threshold-showing |
Question #1: When a capital defendant can make a substantial threshold showing of intellectual disability, are the state courts constitutionally requi… |
| 18-5641 |
Pressley Bernard Alston v. Florida, et al. |
Florida |
2018-08-17 |
Denied |
IFP |
8th-amendment,14th-amendment,capital-punishment,hu capital-defendant capital-punishment Does the partial retroactivity formula designed by Does the partial retroactivity formula employed fo due-process,federal-constitutional-rights,post-con federal-constitutional-violations hurst-v-florida montgomery-v-louisiana montgomery-v-louisiana,retroactivity,sentencing,su post-conviction-review retroactivity state-law-waiver supremacy-clause |
1. Does a state capital defendant's state-law waiver of state post-conviction review automatically and forever preclude the defendant from seeking rel… |