capital-punishment

350 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25-6873 Julius Jarreau Moore v. Arizona Arizona 2026-02-23 Pending IFP capital-punishment exculpatory-evidence fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance-of-counsel prosecutorial-misconduct sixth-amendment 1) Whether the State's alleged egregious misconduct in both planting evidence in Petitioner Moore's bed to wrongfully tie him to the homicides, and by…
25-6862 Martez Abram v. Mississippi Mississippi 2026-02-20 Pending IFP aggravating-circumstances arson capital-punishment eighth-amendment felony-murder sufficient-evidence 1. Was the application of Mississippi's felony-murder aggravating factor and circumstance sufficient to meet the mandate of the Eighth Amendment to me…
25-6846 Tony Terrell Clark v. Mississippi Mississippi 2026-02-18 Pending IFP batson-challenge capital-punishment due-process ineffective-assistance-of-counsel peremptory-strikes strickland-prejudice 1. whether a post-conviction petitioner must prove a successful Batson challenge would change the outcome of the trial to show Strickland prejudice. …
25A821 Taylor Rene Parker v. Texas Texas 2026-01-16 Application capital-punishment criminal-culpability death-penalty eighth-amendment intellectual-disability mental-capacity Question not identified.
25-6315 Jasper Phillip Rushing v. Arizona Arizona 2025-12-08 Pending IFP capital-punishment constitutional-claim due-process fundamental-error preservation-doctrine shackling 1. Did the Arizona Supreme Court err in concluding that Mr. Rushing failed to preserve below? 2. If the claim was unpreserved, did the unjustified vi…
25-6279 Steven Matthew Wolf v. Florida Florida 2025-12-03 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty fourteenth-amendment juror-bias jury-selection sixth-amendment Whether Mr. Wolf was deprived of a jury of his peers as guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments where the trial court removed a juror who pr…
25A576 John Bejarano v. William Reubart, Warden Ninth Circuit 2025-11-17 Application capital-punishment federal-review habeas-corpus procedural-default state-procedure successive-petition Question not identified.
25-5997 Tremane Wood v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2025-10-30 Denied Amici (4)IFP brady-violation capital-punishment judicial-bias napue-violation prosecutorial-misconduct witness-testimony 1. Should this Court, after independently reviewing the factual record, grant Mr. Wood a new trial based on the Napue violation at his trial, as it di…
25-5926 Anthony Boyd v. Kay Ivey, Governor of Alabama Eleventh Circuit 2025-10-21 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process judicial-procedure pro-se-representation separation-of-powers 1. Whether the Eleventh Circuit erred barring a condemned inmate from filing pro se while represented elsewhere in violation of the federal right of a…
25-5865 Aaron Norman Dunn v. California California 2025-10-10 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure due-process fourteenth-amendment payne-v-tennessee victim-impact-evidence Whether under Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808 (1991), a prosecutor can be permitted to play for the jury during the penalty phase of a capital trial …
25-5784 Daniel Raul Santiago Vasquez v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2025-10-02 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure due-process eighth-amendment mitigation-testimony videoconference-testimony 1. Does the Eighth Amendment allow the State to prevent live mitigation testimony in favor of a capital defendant based upon financial reasons alone (…
25-5738 Mark H. Wilson v. Florida Florida 2025-09-25 Denied IFP appellate-review brown-v-sanders capital-punishment eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment harmless-error Where the trial court in a capital case allows the State to present and argue an invalid aggravating factor to the jury in support of a death sentence…
25-5605 David Joseph Pittman v. Florida Florida 2025-09-11 Denied IFP capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection ex-post-facto retroactive-effect 1. Does the Florida Supreme Court's decision in Phillips v. State , 299 So.3d 1013 (Fla. 2020) , denying some capital defendants the retroactive effec…
25-5532 James Randall Rogers v. Georgia Georgia 2025-09-03 Denied Relisted (2)IFP bitemark-evidence capital-punishment discretionary-appeal eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment scientific-evidence 1. Whether the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments require a remand where the State has conceded that no court ever addressed the impact of Rogers's new …
25A185 Kayle B. Bates v. Florida, et al. Florida 2025-08-14 Denied capital-punishment constitutional-protection cruel-and-unusual death-penalty eighth-amendment irreparable-harm Question not identified.
25A65 Byron Lewis Black v. Tennessee Tennessee 2025-07-16 Denied capital-punishment common-law-tradition competency-to-be-executed eighth-amendment evolving-standards-of-decency intellectual-disability Question not identified.
25A28 Mica Alexander Martinez v. Christe Quick, Warden Tenth Circuit 2025-07-08 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-error death-penalty eighth-amendment execution-protocol habeas-corpus Question not identified.
24-7483 DeAngelo Zieglar v. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 2025-06-24 Denied Response WaivedIFP caldwell-precedent capital-punishment constitutional-procedure death-penalty jury-selection moratorium-impact In light of Caldwell v. Mississippi, 472 U.S. 320 (1985), where a state has instituted an indefinite and formal moratorium on the death penalty, wheth…
24-7473 Obel Cruz-Garcia v. Eric Guerrero, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2025-06-20 Denied IFP capital-punishment circuit-precedent external-influence habeas-corpus jury-deliberations religious-text 1. When a jury foreman in a capital murder trial brings a religious text to the jury room during punishment phase deliberations and reads passages con…
24A1198 James Randall Rogers v. Georgia Georgia 2025-06-05 Presumed Complete bitemark-evidence capital-punishment constitutional-due-process death-penalty new-trial recantation Question not identified.
24-7351 Terry Pitchford v. Burl Cain, Commissioner, Mississippi Department of Corrections, et al. Fifth Circuit 2025-06-03 Granted Amici (10)Relisted (8)IFP batson-challenge capital-punishment equal-protection habeas-corpus peremptory-strikes racial-discrimination 1. Does clearly established federal law determined by this Court and applied in six other circuits require reversal of a state appellate court's denia…
24-7346 Seaga Edward Gillard v. North Carolina North Carolina 2025-06-03 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-sentencing death-penalty felony-murder jury-instructions supreme-court-precedent Whether the Supreme Court of North Carolina violated this Court's precedent when it held that a jury instruction requiring a finding of culpability un…
24A1150 Stephen Corey Bryant v. Joel Anderson, Acting Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. Fourth Circuit 2025-05-27 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty fourth-circuit habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance Question not identified.
24-7169 Glen Edward Rogers v. Florida Florida 2025-05-09 Denied IFP capital-punishment due-process fourteenth-amendment lethal-injection post-conviction procedural-rules Glen Edward Rogers is currently facing execution in Florida while suffering from the effects of Porphyria disease, a blood disorder. The state courts …
24-7151 Zane Michael Floyd v. Jeremy Bean, Warden, et al. Nevada 2025-05-06 Denied IFP atkins-ruling capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment eighth-amendment intellectual-disability medical-consensus Whether, given this medical consensus, the original meaning of the Eighth Amendment, and this Court's rulings in Atkins and Roper, a state may constit…
24-6942 John Sexton v. Florida Florida 2025-04-08 Denied IFP capital-punishment court-witness harmless-error mitigation-specialist sixth-amendment structural-error During John Sexton's capital penalty phase trial, after he presented his mitigation and rested, the trial court called the defense team's mitigation s…
24-6933 Mikal Mahdi v. Bryan Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections South Carolina 2025-04-08 Denied IFP capital-punishment childhood-trauma death-penalty ineffective-assistance mitigating-evidence sixth-amendment Mikal Mahdi faces execution even though the mitigating evidence presented by his defense counsel filled barely 15 transcript pages. The state supreme …
24-6841 Micah Brown v. Eric Guerrero, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2025-03-25 Dismissed IFP capital-punishment defendant-rights fifth-amendment jury-instructions penalty-phase prosecutorial-misconduct Whether reasonable jurists would disagree that a prosecutor violates a capital defendant's Fifth-Amendment right not to testify at the penalty phase b…
24A892 Edward Thomas James v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2025-03-18 Denied capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability circuit-split habeas-corpus stay-of-execution successive-petition Question not identified.
24A274 Marcellus Williams v. Missouri, ex rel. Michael L. Parson, Governor of Missouri, et al. Missouri 2025-03-18 Denied actual-innocence capital-punishment clemency death-penalty eighth-amendment post-conviction-relief Question not identified.
24A785 Jeffery Day Rieber v. John Q. Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2025-02-14 Denied capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mens-rea penalty-phase sixth-amendment Question not identified.
24-6420 Stephen C. Stanko v. Bryan P. Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. Fourth Circuit 2025-01-29 Denied IFP capital-punishment expert-services habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel traumatic-brain-injury waiver-of-counsel 1. Does 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A) require a certificate of appealability for review of an order prematurely granting summary judgment against the peti…
24A675 Jermaine Alexander Foster v. Florida Florida 2025-01-10 Presumed Complete capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment intellectual-disability postconviction-relief supreme-court-review Question not identified.
24A637 Davone Unique Anderson v. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 2024-12-30 Presumed Complete capital-punishment criminal-culpability death-penalty eighth-amendment intellectual-disability supreme-court-review Whether a court must take into account a person's mental health crisis in assessing the voluntariness of custodial, non-Mirandized statements.
24-6164 Tahina Corcoran, as next friend on behalf of Joseph E. Corcoran v. Ron Neal, Warden Seventh Circuit 2024-12-17 Denied IFP capital-punishment due-process execution-standards incompetency-claim mental-competency state-court-review 1. May a state court dispose of an evidentiarily-supported incompetency to be executed claim under Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399 (1986), and Panett…
24A538 Anthony Medina v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2024-12-03 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-claims habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance sixth-amendment strickland-standard Question not identified.
24-5906 John Esposito v. Shawn Emmons, Warden Georgia 2024-11-04 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-review due-process habeas-corpus judicial-fact-finding jury-misconduct CAPITAL CASE After receiving the trial court's instructions not to discuss the case with anyone, one of the jurors who sentenced Mr. Esposito to deat…
24A411 Donald Sherman v. William Gittere, Warden, et al. Ninth Circuit 2024-10-28 Presumed Complete capital-punishment eighth-amendment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ninth-circuit writ-of-certiorari Question not identified.
24-5753 Robert Leslie Roberson III v. Texas Texas 2024-10-15 Denied IFP actual-innocence capital-punishment due-process habeas-corpus procedural-bar scientific-evidence Whether the TCCA's unexplained application of a procedural bar violates the federal due process clause when a capital state habeas applicant asserts a…
24-5725 Jose G. Barajas Gomez v. Daniel W. White, Superintendent, Monroe Correctional Complex Ninth Circuit 2024-10-08 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure ineffective-assistance mitigating-evidence sentencing-phase sixth-amendment Question not identified.
24-5612 Prosecuting Attorney, 21st Judicial Circuit, ex rel. Marcellus Williams v. Missouri Missouri 2024-09-23 Denied Amici (1)IFP capital-punishment constitutional-error due-process jury-selection prosecutorial-misconduct racial-discrimination Whether due process of law requires reversal where a capital conviction is so infected with errors that the prosecutor who prosecuted the case no long…
24-5561 Marcellus Williams v. Missouri, ex rel. Michael L. Parson, Governor of Missouri, et al. Missouri 2024-09-18 Denied IFP capital-punishment clemency-proceedings constitutional-rights due-process executive-discretion state-procedure The former Governor of Missouri granted Marcellus Williams an eleventh-hour stay of execution. By executive order, the Governor formed a special Board…
24-5439 Richard Beasley v. Ohio Ohio 2024-09-04 Denied IFP appellate-procedure capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process fifth-amendment sixth-amendment 1. If criminal defendant is re-sentenced to, inter alia, death in a capital case, should a reviewing court afford all due process rights on direct app…
24A185 Derek Don Posey v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2024-08-19 Presumed Complete capital-punishment eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury-selection sentencing-procedure sixth-amendment Question not identified.
24A159 LeGregory Davis v. Louisiana Louisiana 2024-08-09 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-violation death-penalty eighth-amendment lethal-injection procedural-due-process Question not identified.
24-5266 Darrell Gunn v. New York New York 2024-08-07 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process guilty-plea ineffective-assistance mental-illness WHETHER CAPITAL DEFENSE TEAM FAILED TO PRESENT MITIGATING EVIDENCE REGARDING THE PETITIONER'S HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS? WHETHER THE NEW YORK STATE C…
24A132 Kyle Trevor Flack v. Kansas Kansas 2024-08-06 Presumed Complete capital-punishment eighth-amendment kansas-supreme-court mitigating-factors murder sentencing Question not identified.
24-5221 Arthur Lee Burton v. Texas Texas 2024-08-04 Denied IFP atkins-claim atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment death-penalty diagnostic-criteria hall-v-florida intellectual-disability moore-v-texas-i moore-v-texas-ii procedural-review supreme-court-precedent 1. Whether the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ("TCCA")—in refusing to authorize plenary review of Mr. Burton's unrebutted prima facie case that his i…
24-5163 Thomas Leo Springs v. Dexter Payne, Director, Arkansas Division of Correction Eighth Circuit 2024-07-29 Denied Relisted (2)IFP aedpa-deference capital-punishment habeas-corpus habeas-corpus-review impeachment-evidence ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel reasoned-state-court-opinion state-court-review strickland-prejudice strickland-standard (1) Whether a federal court applying AEDPA deference to a reasoned state court opinion may ignore the explanation provided by the state court and inst…
24-5083 Stephen B. Wlodarz v. Mike Parris, Warden Sixth Circuit 2024-07-16 Denied Response WaivedIFP actual-innocence capital-punishment constitutional-claim due-process factual-innocence habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel pro-se-petition statute-of-limitations trial-by-jury Whether prosecutors and Petitioner's pretrial sheriff's department Custodians violation of a Scheduled trial by jury, which in all likelihood may have…
23-7792 In Re Ramiro Felix Gonzales 2024-06-24 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-review death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment future-dangerousness post-conviction-review state-law (1) Does it violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution to execute an individual who does not meet the eligibility …
23-7791 Ramiro F. Gonzales v. Texas Texas 2024-06-24 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-punishment-eligibility death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment future-dangerousness jury-determination post-conviction-review When a state conditions a capital defendant's eligibility to be sentenced to death on a jury's determination of "future dangerousness," can the state …
23-7765 Leon Davis, Jr. v. Florida, et al. Florida 2024-06-20 Denied IFP capital-punishment cumulative-error death-penalty ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-selection prosecutorial-discretion strickland-prejudice strickland-standard Counsel failed to object to the capital trial court's multiple misleading and inappropriate comments during jury selection about the uniquely gruesome…
23-7736 Clarence Mack v. Margaret Bradshaw, Warden Sixth Circuit 2024-06-17 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254d2 brady-napue-claims brady-violation capital-punishment capital-trial habeas-corpus informant-testimony informant-witness napue-violation prosecutor-deal prosecutorial-misconduct unreasonable-determination Petitioner was tried in Ohio in 1991 for an aggravated murder committed during a carjacking allegedly perpetrated by two men. The State's entire case …
23A1118 Darryl Scott Stinski v. Warden, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison Eleventh Circuit 2024-06-17 Presumed Complete aedpa capital-punishment federal-review habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance state-court-deference Whether, where a habeas petitioner challenges state court factual findings "based entirely on the state record," a federal court reviews those finding…
23-7590 Jamie Mills v. John Q. Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2024-05-29 Denied IFP brady-violation capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability due-process false-testimony habeas-corpus miller-el-standard plea-agreement prosecutorial-misconduct rule-60-motion (1) Where two judges on the lower court panel found that "no reasonable jurist could conclude that the district court abused its discretion" in denyin…
23-7577 Chuong Duong Tong v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2024-05-28 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment due-process good-cause ineffective-assistance post-conviction-relief postconviction-counsel potentially-meritorious rhines-standard rhines-v-weber voir-dire L Did the Court of Appeals err in holding that ineffective assistance of postconviction counsel cannot establish "good cause" under Rhines v. Weber? A…
23A999 Thomas E. Creech v. Tim Richardson, Warden Ninth Circuit 2024-05-09 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-challenge death-penalty eighth-amendment habeas-corpus judge-sentencing Question not identified.
23-7391 Markeith D. Loyd v. Florida Florida 2024-05-06 Denied Relisted (2)IFP capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment individual-responsibility jury-instructions sentencing-phase Where the court in a capital case allows the State to argue that the jury should, or must, try its best to reach a unanimous penalty phase verdict, is…
23-7364 Jorge Galindo v. Nebraska Nebraska 2024-05-02 Denied Relisted (2)IFP capital-punishment death-penalty eddings-v-oklahoma ineffective-assistance lockett-v-ohio mitigation sentencing-considerations supreme-court-precedent tennard-v-dretke youth youth-mitigation 1. May a state categorically exclude youth as a mitigating factor in a capital case? 2. Must a state court follow this Court's jurisprudence of Locke…
23-7322 Gabriel Paul Hall v. Texas Texas 2024-04-26 Denied IFP attorney-conduct capital-appointments capital-punishment due-process fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel pecuniary-incentive sixth-amendment state-statute When a state has a rule that an attorney must be given an opportunity to explain his conduct before being found to have rendered ineffective assistanc…
23-7274 In Re Joseph T. Swift 2024-04-19 Denied IFP appeal capital-punishment civil-rights death-penalty due-process ineffective-assistance-of-counsel Question not identified.
23A890 Brian J. Dorsey v. David Vandergriff, Warden Missouri 2024-04-07 Denied capital-punishment certiorari-standard death-penalty eighth-amendment penological-goals rehabilitation Question not identified.
23-7153 Brian J. Dorsey v. David Vandergriff, Warden Missouri 2024-04-07 Denied IFP capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-row deterrence eighth-amendment penological-goals rehabilitation retribution When a death-sentenced person has demonstrated that he has been rehabilitated, does the Eighth Amendment prohibit his execution because the penologica…
23-7091 Brandon De McCall v. Texas Texas 2024-03-28 Denied IFP 8th-amendment capital-punishment culpability due-process eighth-amendment jury-instruction jury-instructions mitigating-evidence moral-blameworthiness Where jurors were instructed that they may only consider mitigating evidence to be evidence that "reduces the defendant's moral blameworthiness," and …
23-7085 Isaiah Glenndell Tryon v. Christe Quick, Warden Tenth Circuit 2024-03-27 Denied IFP atkins-claim atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment flynn-effect habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel intellectual-disability post-conviction-relief procedural-default 1. Where a state habeas court, in a non-alternative holding, considers the merits of a defaulted counsel claim to decide whether statutorily required …
23-7042 Willie James Pye v. Shawn Emmons, Warden Georgia 2024-03-20 Denied IFP atkins-standard atkins-v-virginia burden-of-proof capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment intellectual-disability Georgia requires persons with intellectual disability to prove their disability 'beyond a reasonable doubt' in order to vindicate their Eighth Amendme…
23-7029 Byron James Shepard v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2024-03-19 Denied IFP aggravating-circumstance aggravating-factors capital-punishment capital-sentencing criminal-procedure death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury-discretion Does Oklahoma's continuing threat aggravating circumstance violate this Court's capital sentencing jurisprudence and the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendme…
23-1004 Moises Sandoval Mendoza v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2024-03-13 Denied capital-punishment capital-sentencing due-process federal-court fifth-circuit habeas habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance merits-adjudication section-2254 state-court 1. Whether a federal claim is "adjudicated on the merits" in state court under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) so long as the state court resolves the claim on su…
23-6964 Harvey Cantrell v. Department of Veterans Affairs Seventh Circuit 2024-03-12 Denied Response WaivedIFP 8th-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights competency due-process mental-illness Question not identified.
23-6888 Darrell Wayne Frederick v. Christe Quick, Warden Tenth Circuit 2024-03-04 Denied IFP aspd brain-damage capital-punishment capital-sentencing ineffective-assistance-counsel ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation-evidence prejudice prejudice-review strickland-standard strickland-v-washington The jury that sentenced Mr. Frederick to death did not hear from a single live defense witness during the penalty phase of his capital trial. Despite …
23A796 Leslie Galloway, III v. Mississippi Mississippi 2024-02-28 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-rights ineffective-assistance mitigation-investigation penalty-phase sixth-amendment Question not identified.
23-934 Areli Escobar v. Texas Texas 2024-02-27 Denied Amici (4)Relisted (4) capital-murder capital-punishment criminal-conviction dna-evidence due-process false-evidence habeas-corpus jury-verdict misleading-evidence prosecutorial-misconduct unreliable-evidence 1. Whether due process of law requires reversal, where a capital conviction is so infected with errors that the State no longer seeks to defend it. 2…
23-6791 Thomas Eugene Creech v. Idaho Idaho 2024-02-21 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment evolving-standards judicial-sentencing post-conviction state-court Whether it comports with due process for a state court to reject as untimely an evolving-standards claim on a theory that would never allow for such a…
23-6703 Christopher Collings v. David Vandergriff, Warden Eighth Circuit 2024-02-08 Denied IFP appeals capital-case capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability civil-procedure due-process eighth-circuit exhaustion-doctrine habeas-corpus rhines-stay 1. Is a COA required to appeal a district court's denial of a motion for stay of the habeas proceedings made under Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269 (2005…
23-6469 Eric Kimble v. Chance Andes, Acting Warden Ninth Circuit 2024-01-11 Denied IFP capital-habeas capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance mental-health mitigating-evidence ninth-circuit-review prior-conviction rehabilitation strickland-standard strickland-v-washington 1. This case presents the same questions as Thornell v. Jones, Supreme Court Case No. 22-982 (cert. granted, Dec. 13, 2023): Whether the Ninth Circuit…
23-6415 Christian Cruz v. Florida Florida 2024-01-05 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment criminal-procedure death-penalty due-process equal-protection first-degree-murder pulley-v-harris relative-culpability sentencing supreme-court-review WHETHER THE AFFIRMANCE BY THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA OF DEFENDANT'S CONVICTION FOR FIRST DEGREE MURDER AND SENTENCE OF DEATH WAS CLEARL…
23A564 Donte Johnson v. Nevada Nevada 2023-12-19 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-error ineffective-assistance jury-instructions procedural-safeguards sixth-amendment Question not identified.
23-639 Thomas Dale Ferguson v. John Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2023-12-13 Denied adaptive-functioning capital-punishment circuit-split eighth-amendment intellectual-disability iq-test iq-testing moore-v-texas This case implicates two persistent conflicts of authority with regard to how courts are to determine whether a person suffers from an intellectual di…
23A472 Travis Dwight Green v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2023-11-27 Presumed Complete capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-counsel mental-illness procedural-default schizophrenia Question not identified.
23-6078 Timothy Ray Jones, Jr. v. South Carolina South Carolina 2023-11-21 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing due-process eighth-amendment insanity-defense jury jury-instructions not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity voir-dire 1. Whether the Due Process Clause and the Eighth Amendment require that a jury, as the sentencer in a capital case, be told the truth about the effect…
23A436 Guillermo Octavio Arbelaez v. Florida, et al. Florida 2023-11-15 Presumed Complete capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment postconviction-relief sixth-amendment Question not identified.
23A440 David Santiago Renteria v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, et al. Fifth Circuit 2023-11-15 Denied capital-punishment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment judicial-review prosecutorial-discretion removal-statute Question not identified.
23-6008 Matthew Johnson v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2023-11-14 Denied IFP capital-punishment district-court-discretion docket-control due-process equal-protection federal-courts habeas-corpus statute-of-limitations statutory-limitations 1. Does 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d), which provides in part that a "1-year period of limitations shall apply" to applications filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 22…
23-471 Casey A. McWhorter v. Alabama Alabama 2023-11-03 Denied 8th-amendment age-discrimination capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection jury-selection juvenile-justice Petitioner seeks this Court's review of the Alabama Supreme Court's denial of Petitioner's habeas petition, which presents important issues concerning…
23-5890 Jerry Smith v. Alabama Alabama 2023-10-26 Denied IFP ake-v-oklahoma capital-punishment capital-trials due-process fourteenth-amendment indigent-defendants indigent-defense jury-selection mitigation-experts racial-discrimination Whether Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68 (1985), and the Fourteenth Amendment's due process guarantee of fundamental fairness require courts to provide fu…
23A312 Thomas Dale Ferguson v. John Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2023-10-10 Presumed Complete atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment ineffective-assistance-of-counsel intellectual-disability jury-recommendation strickland-v-washington Whether a jury's eleven-to-one recommendation of a life sentence weighs heavily in favor of a finding of prejudice under Strickland v. Washington, 466…
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…
23-5653 Michael Duane Zack, III v. Florida Florida 2023-09-26 Denied IFP atkins-exemption atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment eighth-amendment fetal-alcohol-syndrome fourteenth-amendment intellectual-developmental-disorder medical-consensus witherspoon-v-illinois 1. In light of the medical community's recent consensus that Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is not only functionally similar to Intellectual Developmental Dis…
23-5617 Anthony Castillo Sanchez v. Christe Quick, Warden Tenth Circuit 2023-09-20 Denied IFP abandoned-clients attorney-abandonment capital-punishment civil-procedure court-procedure dilatory-removal district-court habeas-corpus judicial-discretion procedural-delay stay-of-execution The question presented is whether a District Court can deny a stay of execution when it has been dilatory in removing attorneys who abandoned their cl…
23-5620 Margaret A. Allen v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2023-09-20 Denied IFP capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability constitutional-rights due-process evidence ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation sixth-amendment strickland-v-washington 1. Whether the Eleventh Circuit flouted this Court's relevant decisions and precedent by declining to even grant a certificate of appealability regard…
23-5553 Randy Haight v. Scott Jordan, Warden Sixth Circuit 2023-09-12 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment due-process evidentiary-hearing expert-testimony habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mental-health mental-retardation statutory-interpretation 1. Where a state trial court resolves disputed issues of material fact without an evidentiary hearing and ignores relevant expert opinion, is the stat…
23A233 Jerry Smith v. Alabama Alabama 2023-09-12 Presumed Complete appellate-review capital-punishment constitutional-review death-penalty habeas-corpus penalty-phase Question not identified.
23-5421 Brent Ray Brewer v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2023-08-23 Denied IFP capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability constitutional-claim future-dangerousness habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel state-court-review strickland-v-washington I. Where a state court and federal court deny a habeas claim on contradictory grounds, do their conflicting rulings suggest that "reasonable jurists w…
23-167 John Q. Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections v. Joseph Clifton Smith Eleventh Circuit 2023-08-21 GVR Amici (1)Relisted (30) atkins-standard atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment eighth-amendment hall-v-florida intellectual-disability iq-test iq-testing standard-error-of-measurement According to Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2003), the Eighth Amendment exempts intellectually disabled offenders from capital punishment. The Cour…
23A129 Cuhuatemoc Peraita v. Alabama Alabama 2023-08-16 Presumed Complete capital-punishment extraneous-prejudicial-information jury-impartiality mitigation-evidence sixth-amendment waiver-of-rights Question not identified.
23-5277 Sergio Ochoa v. Oak Smith, Acting Warden Ninth Circuit 2023-08-03 Denied IFP background-investigation capital-punishment capital-sentencing ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence neuropsychological-deficits post-traumatic-stress post-traumatic-stress-disorder strickland-v-washington williams-v-taylor In Ochoa v. Davis, the Ninth Circuit endorsed trial counsel's presentation of a "family sympathy" defense at the penalty phase of Sergio Ochoa's capit…
23-5244 Johnny Johnson v. David Vandergriff, Warden Eighth Circuit 2023-07-31 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254 capital-punishment competency-to-be-executed death-penalty delusional-beliefs habeas-corpus mental-competency mental-illness panetti-standard state-court-review When a panel has determined that 28 U.S.C. 2253(c)(2) has been satisfied and an appeal and concordant stay are necessary, does an en banc court have a…
23-5243 Johnny Johnson v. David Vandergriff, Warden Missouri 2023-07-31 Denied IFP capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment evidentiary-hearing ford-v-wainwright habeas-corpus mental-competency panetti-v-quarterman procedural-fairness 1. Whether a report from a qualified neuropsychiatrist that a condemned prisoner is incompetent for execution that is not contradicted by any qualifie…
23A38 Joseph Gamboa v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2023-07-17 Presumed Complete AEDPA-statute-of-limitations attorney-abandonment capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel rule-60b-motion Whether a Rule 60(b) motion alleging abandonment by counsel can, at least in some instances, attack a defect in the integrity of the habeas proceeding…
22-7466 Richard Eugene Glossip v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2023-05-04 Judgment Issued Amici (18)IFP brady-v-maryland brady-violation capital-punishment due-process evidence-suppression false-testimony kyles-v-whitley materiality napue-v-illinois prosecutorial-misconduct witness-testimony 1. a. Whether the State's suppression of the key prosecution witness's admission he was under the care of a psychiatrist and failure to correct that w…
22-982 Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections v. Danny Lee Jones Ninth Circuit 2023-04-10 Judgment Issued Amici (4)Relisted (9) capital-case capital-punishment credibility-findings district-court district-court-deference habeas habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ninth-circuit ninth-circuit-review strickland strickland-standard Did the Ninth Circuit violate this Court's precedents by employing a flawed methodology for assessing Strickland prejudice when it disregarded the dis…
22-7233 Justin Heath Thomas v. California California 2023-04-06 Denied IFP apprendi-v-new-jersey capital-punishment constitutional-requirement criminal-sentencing death-penalty due-process jury-finding jury-trial reasonable-doubt ring-v-arizona statutory-maximum WHETHER CALIFORNIA'S DEATH PENALTY SCHEME VIOLATES THE CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENT THAT ANY FACT, OTHER THAN A PRIOR CONVICTION, THAT SERVES TO INCREAS…
22-7136 Terry Froman v. Ohio Ohio 2023-03-29 Denied IFP 6th-amendment capital-punishment due-process impartial-jury ineffective-assistance-of-counsel juror-selection jury-impartiality racial-bias right-to-counsel trial-procedure Six members of Terry Froman's capital jury provided answers on their questionnaires that demonstrated that they harbored racial bias. None were meanin…
22-7135 Victoria Michelle Drain v. Ohio Ohio 2023-03-29 Denied IFP 8th-amendment capital-punishment capital-sentencing defense-counsel eddings-v-oklahoma eighth-amendment mitigating-evidence ohio-supreme-court sentencing-review strategic-choice Counsel and capital defendant s frequently clash over whether and what mitigating evidence to present in support of a sentence less than deat h. In Oh…
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…
22-6964 Arthur Brown, Jr. v. Texas Texas 2023-03-08 Denied IFP atkins-claim atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment eighth-amendment intellectual-disability moore-precedent moore-v-texas procedural-bar texas-criminal-code-article-11.071-section-5(a)(1) 1. Is Mr. Brown entitled to a merits review of his Atkins claim under federal law, Moore I and Moore II, and was the procedural bar asserted by the Te…
22-6951 Zachariah Marcyniuk v. Dexter Payne, Director, Arkansas Division of Correction Eighth Circuit 2023-03-07 Denied IFP capital-punishment due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-fairness judicial-misconduct peremptory-strikes procedural-default state-officials supervisory-powers In this capital habeas case, the Eighth Circuit decided important questions of federal law in a way that conflicts with relevant decisions of this Cou…
22-6895 Heather Leavell-Keaton v. Alabama Alabama 2023-03-01 Denied Amici (1)Relisted (4)IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-rights death-penalty due-process evidence prison-behavior sentencing skipper-precedent skipper-v-south-carolina When a capital defendant's death sentence is vacated and the case is remanded for a new sentencing at which the death penalty is an available sentence…
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?
22-6739 Harry Franklin Phillips v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2023-02-09 Denied IFP 14th-amendment 8th-amendment capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability circuit-split constitutional-law due-process eighth-amendment habeas-corpus intellectual-disability retroactivity 1. Whether the denial of a Certificate of Appealability (COA) on the denial of a motion that seeks to amend a habeas petition pending on appeal – whic…
22-6570 Richard Galvan Montiel v. Kevin Chappell, Warden Ninth Circuit 2023-01-19 Denied IFP atkins-claim atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mental-retardation strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Where a capitally sentenced habeas corpus petitioner relies on uncontradicted Strickland mitigating evidence and United States District Court findings…
22-6534 Terry Lynn King v. Tony Mays, Warden Sixth Circuit 2023-01-13 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-trial constitutional-error cruel-and-unusual-punishment cumulative-error due-process federal-courts fourteenth-amendment harmless-error judicial-review (1) Whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that courts consider the aggregate effect of multiple legal errors, as the Fir…
22-6411 Granville Ritchie v. Florida Florida 2022-12-29 Denied IFP anti-immigrant capital-penalty capital-punishment constitutional-rights equal-protection immigration-status impartial-jury jury-bias prosecutorial-misconduct unconstitutional-conditions Does the United States Constitution prohibit a prosecutor from suggesting to a capital penalty jury that the defendant, as a foreigner and an immigran…
22-6191 John L. Lotter v. Nebraska Nebraska 2022-12-01 Denied IFP atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment collateral-review constitutional-law eighth-amendment hall-v-florida intellectual-disability moore-v-texas retroactivity substantive-rules Did Hall and Moore I announce new substantive rules of federal constitutional law that apply retroactively to cases on collateral review?
22-6150 Walter Raglin v. Tim Shoop, Warden Sixth Circuit 2022-11-23 Denied IFP capital-murder capital-punishment closing-arguments criminal-procedure ineffective-assistance procedural-bar res-judicata state-procedural-bar trial-counsel voir-dire 1. Whether a capital defendant is deprived of the effective assistance of trial counsel when his lawyers repeatedly concede guilt of aggravated murder…
22-6096 Gary Eye v. United States Eighth Circuit 2022-11-18 Denied IFP 8th-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights competency due-process mental-illness hon the leg stacki of ad g chargs beome Redocie to al ffds illegal sowtence which was mode illegal bn the 1t step Act passed by corgress in per. 2018)…
22-6054 Stephen Barbee v. Bryan Collier, et al. Fifth Circuit 2022-11-15 Denied IFP capital-punishment execution-chamber fifth-circuit first-amendment free-exercise prison-litigation-reform-act prison-policy religious-rights rluipa spiritual-advisor 1. Whether the Fifth Circuit erred in vacating as an abuse of discretion the injunction requiring TDCJ to publish a clear policy where the district co…
22-5891 Kevin B. Burns v. Tony Mays, Warden Sixth Circuit 2022-10-24 Denied Amici (1)Relisted (7)IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing felony-murder ineffective-assistance moral-culpability residual-doubt sentencing state-law strickland-v-washington 1. Whether an ineffective assistance claim may be based on counsel's failure to exercise a state-law right to introduce residual doubt evidence at a c…
22-5513 Jerome Jenkins, Jr. v. South Carolina South Carolina 2022-09-06 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing due-process hearsay-rules hurst-v-florida judicial-bias jury-sentencing jury-waiver mitigating-evidence plea-bargaining state-statute Could a South Carolina trial judge who had told Petitioner he would sentence him to death if he pled guilty still rule, consistent with Hurst v. Flori…
22-5476 John R. Wood v. Bryan Stirling, Commissioner, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. Fourth Circuit 2022-08-30 Denied IFP capital-punishment fourth-circuit-review habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel prejudice prejudice-analysis prison-conditions strickland-standard Wilson-v-Sellers 1. Whether the state court unreasonably applied Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), when it concluded that Petitioner suffered no prejudice…
22-5093 Jerry Leon Haliburton v. Florida Florida 2022-07-13 Denied IFP burden-of-proof capital-punishment clear-and-convincing-evidence death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment intellectual-disability state-law In Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), this Court held that the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments preclude the execution of defendants with intell…
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…
21-8144 Tavares J. Wright v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2022-06-15 Denied IFP atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment flynn-effect fourteenth-amendment hall-v-florida intellectual-disability iq-testing moore-v-texas Whether failing to apply the Flynn effect to a capital defendant's intelligence quotient scores in cases where the scores were formulated from tests t…
21-8046 Joseph Martin Danks v. California California 2022-06-03 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-culpability cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process eighth-amendment inmate-rights mental-health state-liability state-responsibility 1. Does the Eighth Amendment preclude the execution of a seriously mentally ill inmate whose homicidal behavior was the reasonably known, foreseeable,…
21-7809 Urshawn Eric Miller v. Tennessee Tennessee 2022-05-09 Denied IFP arbitrary-and-capricious arbitrary-capricious capital-punishment comparative-proportionality-review death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment proportionality-review sentencing-review Whether Tennessee's comparative proportionality review, the state's chosen safeguard against arbitrary and capricious imposition of the death penalty,…
21-7794 Paul C. Bolin v. Ron Broomfield, Warden Ninth Circuit 2022-05-06 Denied IFP aggravating-factors capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance jury-discretion mitigation mitigation-evidence prejudice-analysis prejudice-standard strickland-standard strickland-v-washington This capital case, in which defense counsel's investigation and preparation for the penalty phase was grossly deficient, presents two questions concer…
21-7778 Lester Ochoa v. Ron Davis, Warden Ninth Circuit 2022-05-04 Denied IFP capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment cullen-v-pinholster eighth-amendment family-sympathy jury-instructions mitigation mitigation-evidence Whether a State court may, consistent with the Right Against Cruel and Unusual Punishment guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment, prohibit jurors from con…
21-7670 In Re Oscar Smith 2022-04-21 Denied IFP actual-innocence aedpa capital-punishment constitutional-rights dna-evidence due-process habeas-corpus suspension-clause Question not identified.
21-7478 Derrick Jerome Spencer v. United States Eighth Circuit 2022-03-28 Denied IFP 1st-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights confrontation-clause constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process federal-courts standing takings Whether Petitioner is being deprived of his civil right to "equal" due process of law in violation of "the Constitution and laws of the United States.…
21-7449 Leonard S. Taylor v. Paul Blair, Warden Eighth Circuit 2022-03-23 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-trial closing-argument ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel martinez-standard martinez-v-ryan mccoy-v-louisiana nixon-v-florida sixth-amendment strickland-test strickland-v-washington 1. Whether the decision to forego a closing argument in the penalty phase of a capital murder trial is a tactical decision for trial counsel to make o…
21-7400 Derrick U. Stricklin v. Nebraska Nebraska 2022-03-17 Denied IFP alibi-evidence capital-case capital-punishment criminal-procedure fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel sixth-amendment trial-tactics I. WHETHER THE FAILURE OF DEFENSE COUNSEL TO FILE A NOTICE OF ALIBI AND PRESENT AMPLE ALIBI EVIDENCE WHEN INSTRUCTED TO DO SO BY THE DEFENDANT IN A …
21-7249 Jacob Ivan Hill v. United States Fourth Circuit 2022-03-02 Denied Response WaivedIFP capital-punishment civil-rights due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel ineffective-assistance mitigating-evidence prosecutorial-misconduct right-to-counsel self-defense sentencing-phase sixth-amendment Question not identified.
21-7224 Johnathan I. Alcegaire v. Florida Florida 2022-02-28 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment due-process false-evidence false-testimony giglio giglio-claim jury-instructions jury-prejudice prosecutorial-misconduct In this Florida capital case, the Florida Supreme Court, while acknowledging that the prosecution's argument to the jury was not true, denied Petition…
21-1173 Joe Elton Nixon v. Florida Florida 2022-02-24 Denied Amici (1) and whether Florida's burden of proof for intelle atkins-v-virginia burden-of-proof capital-punishment constitutional-law eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment intellectual-disability teague-rule teague-v-lane 1. In Atkins v. Virginia , 536 U.S. 304 (2002), this Court held that the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments preclude the execution of defendants with in…
21-7082 William Speer v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2022-02-09 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing double-edged-evidence eighth-amendment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence sixth-amendment strickland-standard strickland-v-washington In federal habeas proceedings, Petitioner William Speer presented a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel for failure to investigate and pr…
21-1044 Bryan P. Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. v. James Nathaniel Bryant, III Fourth Circuit 2022-01-26 Denied capital-punishment capital-sentencing due-process fact-finding federal-review habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance state-court-deference In review of a claim fully adjudicated in state court, did the district court violate 28 U.S.C. § 2254's deference mandate and offend the principles o…
21-6954 Robert Jurado v. Ronald Davis, Warden Ninth Circuit 2022-01-25 Denied IFP 14th-amendment 8th-amendment capital-punishment confession-evidence constitutional-amendments double-jeopardy mitigating-evidence ninth-circuit-review penalty-phase plea-bargaining skipper-standard 1. Did the Ninth Circuit err in concluding that the California Supreme Court did not unreasonably apply federal law or unreasonably determine facts in…
21-938 Bryan P. Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. v. Sammie Louis Stokes Fourth Circuit 2021-12-23 GVR Relisted (2) capital-punishment fourth-circuit habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation-evidence prejudice-analysis procedural-default strategic-decision strickland-standard strickland-v-washington I. Did the Fourth Circuit violate basic principles of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) when it failed to reweigh the whole of the evidenc…
21-6654 Donald H. Davidson, Jr. v. Florida Florida 2021-12-17 Denied IFP aggravating-factors alleyne-v-united-states apprendi-v-new-jersey capital-punishment capital-sentencing due-process hurst-v-florida mitigating-circumstances reasonable-doubt ring-v-arizona sentencing-determination Under the Due Process Clause, the determination of the existence of an element of a crime must be made beyond a reasonable doubt. See Apprendi v. New …
21-6580 Kevin Johnson v. Troy Steele, Warden Eighth Circuit 2021-12-13 Denied IFP appellate-review batson-claim Batson-v-Kentucky capital-habeas capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability certificates-of-appealability eighth-circuit habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel Martinez-v-Ryan 1. Does the Eighth Circuit's practice of issuing unexplained blanket denials of certificates of appealability in capital habeas cases conflict with 28…
21-847 Jonathan Ian Burns v. Arizona Arizona 2021-12-07 Judgment Issued Relisted (3) capital-punishment collateral-review due-process federal-law parole-ineligibility retroactivity supreme-court In Simmons v. South Carolina , 512 U.S. 154 (1994), this Court held that in cases where a capital defendant's future dangerousness is at issue, due pr…
21-846 John Montenegro Cruz v. Arizona Arizona 2021-12-07 Judgment Issued Amici (9)Relisted (2) capital-punishment collateral-review due-process federal-law parole-ineligibility retroactivity state-court-decisions supreme-court In Simmons v. South Carolina, 512 U.S. 154 (1994), this Court held that in cases where a capital defendant's future dangerousness is at issue, due pro…
21-6435 James Worley v. Ohio Ohio 2021-11-29 Denied IFP capital-conviction capital-punishment constitutional-rights fair-jury fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury-selection sixth-amendment voir-dire Is a capital conviction and sentence in valid and imposed in violation of the capital defendant's constitutional rights to a fair jury under the Fifth…
21-782 Rodney Renia Young v. Georgia Georgia 2021-11-24 Denied Amici (4) burden-of-proof capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process eighth-amendment intellectual-disability state-law Georgia requires persons with intellectual disability to prove their disability 'beyond a reasonable doubt' in order to vindicate their Eighth Amendme…
21-6307 Donald James Smith v. Florida Florida 2021-11-17 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment criminal-procedure due-process eighth-amendment fair-trial penalty-phase prosecutorial-misconduct sixth-amendment victim-impact Was petitioner's right to a fair "penalty phase" trial violated when the prosecutor told the jurors, during closing arguments in the guilt phase, that…
21-6073 John Ray Falk, Jr. v. Texas Texas 2021-10-27 Denied IFP accomplice-liability capital-murder capital-punishment criminal-liability due-process guilty-plea law-of-parties notice plea-bargaining pro-se pro-se-defendant (1) Given that Due Process requires that a guilty plea be "knowing and intelligent," when a pro se defendant seeks to plead guilty to a death-eligible…
21-6083 James Osgood v. Alabama Alabama 2021-10-26 Denied IFP capital-punishment credibility-determinations death-penalty juror-challenge jury-selection sentencing-determination sixth-amendment trial-court witherspoon-v-illinois Can a reviewing court, consistent with the Sixth Amendment, uphold a challenge for cause in a capital case on the basis of a potential juror's persona…
21-466 Eric DeWayne Cathey v. Texas Texas 2021-09-28 Denied Amici (1) capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment intellectual-disability medical-criteria medical-standards precedent supreme-court-precedent Whether, in rejecting the detailed factfindings and legal conclusions of a state habeas trial court, disregarding medically accepted standards, and de…
21-5753 James Allyson Lee v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Eleventh Circuit 2021-09-22 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing childhood-trauma habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation-evidence post-conviction-relief ptsd ptsd-evidence strickland-standard strickland-v-washington 1. Where a capital sentencing jury hears only a brief, conclusory, second-hand allusion to childhood abuse and neglect, can detailed, graphic accounts…
21-444 Andre Lee Thomas v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2021-09-22 Denied Amici (1)Relisted (22) aedpa-deference capital-punishment fifth-circuit habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel juror-bias racial-bias schizophrenia supreme-court-precedent voir-dire Under this Court's clearly established precedent, was Petitioner Andre Thomas —an African American man who, during a schizophrenic episode, killed his…
21-5561 Tyrone Cade v. Texas Texas 2021-09-01 Denied IFP capital-habeas capital-punishment competent-counsel due-process fourteenth-amendment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance sixth-amendment state-responsibilities Whether the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause requires a State to provide capital habeas petitioners one opportunity to present Sixth Amendmen…
21-5491 Alton Alexander Nolen v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2021-08-26 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-procedure death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment intellectual-disability mental-retardation Whether Oklahoma's procedure for litigating the issue of whether a capital defendant suffers from an intellectual disability that would disqualify him…
21-5378 Anthony Kirkland v. Ohio Ohio 2021-08-16 Denied IFP appellate-counsel appellate-procedure capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process eighth-amendment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel prosecutorial-misconduct I. Is a capital sentence invalid, and imposed in violation of the capital defendant's constitutional rights, when during the final closing argument ad…
21-5347 Damantae Graham v. Ohio Ohio 2021-08-11 Denied IFP capital-punishment fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-selection racial-bias racial-prejudice sixth-amendment voir-dire This Court recently cautioned trial courts to be especially vigilant against "particularly noxious strain[s] of racial prejudice," Buck v. Davis, 137 …
21-5232 Duane Allen Short v. Ohio Ohio 2021-07-29 Denied IFP caldwell-v-mississippi capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-decency due-process eighth-amendment evolving-standards-of-decency jury-recommendation jury-trial sixth-amendment Is Ohio's capital sentencing scheme, which permits telling the jury that their decision is only a mere recommendation, unconstitutional under Hurst v.…
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…
21-5094 Stanley Jalowiec v. Ohio Ohio 2021-07-13 Denied IFP caldwell-v-mississippi capital-case capital-punishment constitutional-error death-penalty hurst-v-florida jury-responsibility jury-selection sentencing-responsibility trial-procedure Is telling the jury that their decision is only a mere recommendation unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida?
21-5048 Wesley Lynn Ruiz v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2021-07-08 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing certificate-of-appealability due-process eighth-amendment expert-testimony expert-witness false-testimony prosecutorial-misconduct Under the Due Process clause, and the Eighth Amendment, should the prosecution be held responsible for the presentation of false expert testimony on a…
21-5052 Walter Drummond v. Mark S. Inch, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Florida 2021-07-08 Denied Response WaivedIFP capital-punishment civil-procedure constitutional-rights due-process florida-constitution habeas-corpus post-conviction-relief procedural-due-process standing us-constitution writ-of-corpus 1. How Can a legitimate Writ of Habeas Corpus be denied outside the guidelines of the Florida Constitution; Article I, Section 13, Habeas Corpus, U.S.…
20-1742 Akil Jahi, aka Preston Carter v. Tennessee Tennessee 2021-06-15 Denied capital-punishment capital-trial counsel-limitations criminal-defense defendant-autonomy ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mccoy-v-louisiana penalty-phase sixth-amendment trial-procedure 1. Does the Sixth Amendment holding of McCoy v. Louisiana, 138 S. Ct. 1500 (2018) apply to a penalty phase capital trial to protect a defendant's auto…
20-8093 Martin James Kipp v. Ron Broomfield, Acting Warden Ninth Circuit 2021-05-20 Denied IFP bible-reading biblical-reference capital-punishment capital-trial constitutional-rights external-influence habeas-corpus jury-deliberation jury-deliberations mattox-v-united-states presumed-prejudice remmer-v-united-states Whether clearly established federal law requires that a habeas petitioner's claim that his constitutional rights were violated because a juror read pa…
20-8075 Damantae Graham v. Ohio Ohio 2021-05-19 Denied IFP appellate-review capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-error constitutional-law criminal-procedure harmless-error trial-procedure victim-impact victim-impact-testimony This Court ruled that, before a federal constitutional error can be deemed harmless, the prosecution must establish by proof beyond a reasonable doubt…
20-8043 Carl Wayne Buntion v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2021-05-17 Denied IFP arbitrary capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty deterrence eighth-amendment retribution If neither of the two purposes this Court has deemed to be a legitimate purpose for the death penalty —i.e. , retribution and deterrence— would be ser…
20-8038 Shawn Grate v. Ohio Ohio 2021-05-14 Denied Relisted (2)IFP capital-punishment criminal-defendant criminal-defense death-penalty due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel ineffective-assistance-of-counsel insanity-defense mental-health mitigation 1. If a criminal defendant, charged with a death penalty-qualified offense, admit to murdering multiple women, and the only possible defense is a verd…
20-7865 Terry Lee Froman v. Ohio Ohio 2021-04-27 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-duty death-penalty fair-trial jury-selection racial-bias structural-error voir-dire 1) Does trial counsel have an obligation to conduct a meaningful and comprehensive voir dire as it relates to racial bias, explicit or implicit, of ju…
20-7813 Richard Allen Benson v. Kevin Chappell, Warden Ninth Circuit 2021-04-21 Dismissed IFP aedpa aedpa-standard capital-case capital-punishment due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance mitigation-evidence prima-facie state-law 1. When a federal habeas court examines for reasonableness a silent state court habeas denial pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) (AEDPA) and Harrington v…
20-7665 Donald David Dillbeck v. Florida Florida 2021-04-06 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty due-process evolving-standards habeas-corpus medical-evidence mental-health post-conviction post-conviction-relief scientific-advancements scientific-evidence 1) What constitutes diligence in raising newly discovered medical and/or mental health evidence and diagnoses? 2) Are capital defendants confined to …
20-7536 Timothy L. Coleman v. Margaret Bradshaw, Warden Sixth Circuit 2021-03-23 Denied IFP brady-violation capital-habeas capital-punishment confessed-murderer due-process eighth-amendment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel penalty-phase right-to-appeal right-to-due-process 1. Does a federal appellate court violate a capital habeas petitioner's rights to a meaningful appeal and habeas review of a federal constitutional cl…
20-1306 Alan Dale Walker v. Mississippi Mississippi 2021-03-19 Denied capital-case capital-punishment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel investigation mitigation-evidence psychological-trauma sixth-amendment tactical-decisions trial-counsel 1. Did the Mississippi Supreme Court fail to adhere to this Court's Sixth Amendment jurisprudence requiring counsel in a capital case to conduct a tho…
20-7373 Christopher Mathew Payne v. Arizona Arizona 2021-03-09 Denied IFP resulting in prejudice capital-punishment death-penalty due-process ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-instructions parole-ineligibility simmons-precedent Whether a death sentence may be carried out when defense counsel unreasonably fails to inform the jury of parole ineligibility under Simmons, 512 U.S.…
20-7341 James Coddington v. Jim Farris, Warden Tenth Circuit 2021-03-05 Denied Amici (1)IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure due-process habeas-corpus harmless-error material-evidence mens-rea right-to-defense right-to-present-defense sixth-amendment On direct appeal, the state court found that constitutional error marred the trial, which ended with a death sentence for petitioner. The error—barrin…
20-1171 Michael Madison v. Ohio Ohio 2021-02-25 Denied capital-punishment due-process fifth-amendment mental-health mitigation self-incrimination Petitioner was sentenced to death after the State presented extensive evidence from his court ordered mental exam by a prosecution-retained psychiatri…
20-7252 John Raymond Travis v. California California 2021-02-25 Denied IFP capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel fifth-amendment jury-instructions mitigating-factors sixth-amendment 1. May a trial court, consistent with the requirements of the federal Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and/or Fourteenth Amendment guarantees of a fundamentally f…
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…
20-1136 Peter Capote v. Alabama Alabama 2021-02-19 Denied 6th-amendment aggravating-circumstances capital-punishment death-penalty judicial-fact-finding judicial-weighing jury-trial mitigating-circumstances sentencing-scheme sixth-amendment 1. Whether the Alabama death penalty sentencing scheme, which leaves it to the judge to find whether the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitiga…
20-7065 Anibal Canales, Jr. v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2021-02-05 Denied Amici (2)Relisted (13)IFP capital-habeas capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence penalty-phase prejudice sixth-amendment Wiggins-v-Smith 1. For penalty phase ineffective assistance of counsel violations, has Richter "established a substantial likelihood standard for evaluating prejudice…
20-6947 Alphonso Cave v. Florida Florida 2021-01-26 Denied IFP capital-punishment civil-rights collateral-review due-process intellectual-disability montgomery-v-louisiana procedural-law retroactive-application retroactivity supreme-court-precedent Must Florida apply Hall v. Florida, 134 S. Ct. 1986 (2014) retroactively and review a claim of intellectual disability on the merits for cases on coll…
20-6922 Melvin Bonnell v. Ohio Ohio 2021-01-25 Denied IFP brady-vs-maryland capital-punishment criminal-procedure due-process evidence prosecutorial-misconduct When a capital ly sentenced defendant credibly demonstrates that (1) state actors have cont inually exhibited bad faith throughout the history of a …
20-6887 Harry Franklin Phillips v. Florida Florida 2021-01-14 Denied Amici (1)IFP atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment collateral-review eighth-amendment ex-post-facto intellectual-disability montgomery-v-louisiana retroactivity supremacy-clause Whether a state court must give retroactive effect on collateral review to the rule announced in Hall because the Supremacy Clause, as held in Montgom…
20-6498 Tony Barksdale v. Jefferson Dunn, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2020-12-02 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing certificate-of-appealability due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel eighth-amendment eleventh-circuit habeas-corpus sixth-amendment supreme-court-precedent 1. Did the Eleventh Circuit misconstrue this Court's guidance in, inter alia, Buck v. Davis, 580 U.S. ___, 137 S. Ct. 759 (2017), when it denied Petit…
20-701 James Calvert v. Texas Texas 2020-11-20 Denied Relisted (6) capital-punishment capital-sentencing due-process eighth-amendment mental-competency right-to-counsel structural-error 1. Whether the Constitution prevents a State from allowing a defendant to represent himself in a capital case when the defendant is mentally competent…
20-6166 Brad Keith Sigmon v. Bryan Stirling, Commissioner, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. Fourth Circuit 2020-10-29 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing cumulative-evidence evidentiary-hearing ineffective-assistance-of-counsel martinez-claim martinez-v-ryan mitigation-evidence sixth-amendment 1. Capital defendant Brad Sigmon presented additional mitigation evidence uncovered during a Martinez investigation that addressed the same general su…
20-6040 Charlie Bell Bullock v. Harold W. Clarke, Director, Virginia Department of Corrections Fourth Circuit 2020-10-15 Denied IFP capital-punishment confrontation-clause criminal-procedure cross-examination ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence professional-norms sentencing-phase sixth-amendment standard-of-review victim-rights 1 -Do ^c, +W CW5t^ VV\Oy4^ CKV/CAl" 1 <\\y £ 0 ^ AV 5 Oy'b yv\v +'h-e<\ <k WcK > S Co^ Viclm Cross ■eAa^v\«ivo\N \ 4 6-C va.m\S.-€.| i Vs. -t. -e_<_-V…
20-5941 Charles Victor Thompson v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2020-10-07 Denied Relisted (5)IFP 28-U.S.C-2254(e)(2) aedpa-deference capital-punishment constitutional-claim federal-habeas habeas-corpus Massiah-claims punishment Sixth-Amendment state-court-review Williams-v-Taylor I. Did the circuit court err in holding that a federal habeas court may never hold a hearing on a punishment issue without first considering 28 U.S.C.…
20-5788 Edward James Wilkins v. Washington Washington 2020-09-24 Denied IFP 6th-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights conflict-of-interest constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel post-conviction-relief Question not identified.
20-5734 Alfred Flores, III v. California California 2020-09-17 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-requirements criminal-procedure criminal-sentencing death-penalty due-process jury-findings jury-trial reasonable-doubt ring-v-arizona sentencing Whether California's death penalty scheme violates the constitutional requirement that any fact that increases the penalty for a crime must be found b…
20-5716 James Ziegenfuss v. Anthony Mackey, et al. Arizona 2020-09-16 Denied Response WaivedIFP 8th-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights competency due-process mental-illness 1. WHETHER IT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL FOR THE RESPONDENT JUDGES, PRO-TEM JUDGE ANTHONY MACKEY, AND MS. TAHELLE MEHEURH, ARIZONA, TO ALLOW PETITIONER TO US…
20-301 Timothy B. Hennis v. United States Armed Forces 2020-09-09 Denied Amici (1) capital-punishment constitutional-provisions court-martial double-jeopardy due-process military-justice military-law state-court-acquittal state-jurisdiction 1. Whether the offenses for which Petitioner was tried and acquitted in state court constituted offenses "for which [he] cannot be tried in the courts…
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.
20-5517 Scotty Ray Gardner v. Arkansas Arkansas 2020-08-27 Denied IFP access-to-courts aggravating-circumstance aggravating-circumstances appellate-review capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty due-process jury-instructions I. In a state in which the death penalty is authorized only upon a finding of an enumerated aggravating circumstance, does due process require that ev…
20-5492 Ray Lamar Johnston v. Mark S. Inch, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2020-08-25 Denied IFP appellate-review caldwell-v-mississippi capital-punishment constitutional-claims death-penalty due-process habeas-corpus hurst-v-florida ineffective-assistance jury-instructions procedural-default 1. Whether the Eleventh Circuit should have remanded or expanded the appeal after new law and evidence developed. The Eleventh Circuit had limited the…
20-5263 Patrick W. Schroeder v. Nebraska Nebraska 2020-08-05 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment mitigation mitigation-evidence pro-se pro-se-representation proportionality sentencing 1) Whether the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution are violated when a capital sentencing panel issues a death sentence…
20-5089 William Kirkpatrick, Jr. v. Kevin Chappell, Warden Ninth Circuit 2020-07-16 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254e1 capital-inmate-rights capital-punishment colloquy due-process federal-review habeas-corpus presumption-of-correctness state-court-proceedings waiver waiver-of-rights whitmore-v-arkansas Whether the Ninth Circuit contravened Whitmore v. Arkansas in upholding a capital inmate's waiver of the right to proceed absent a colloquy demonstrat…
20-5065 Brett A. Bogle v. Florida Florida 2020-07-15 Denied IFP brady-v-maryland brady-violation capital-punishment due-process false-evidence giglio-v-united-states giglio-violation impeachment microscopic-hair-analysis prosecutorial-misconduct scientific-evidence 1. Whether the prosecution violates Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972) and/or Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), if the prosecution pres…
20-26 Wesley Ira Purkey v. United States, et al. Seventh Circuit 2020-07-15 Denied capital-punishment collateral-review federal-capital-prisoners federal-prisoners ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel martinez-v-ryan post-conviction procedural-default trevino-v-thaler trial-counsel Whether and by what procedural mechanism federal capital prisoners who are in the analogous position of the state prisoners in Martinez and Trevino—i.…
19-8922 Amber Renee Craker v. Texas Texas 2020-07-08 Denied Response WaivedIFP administrative-law administrative-proceedings agency-discretion capital-punishment civil-rights criminal-procedure due-process equal-protection ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-review statutory-interpretation Was there sufficient evidence to support her capital murder conviction? Did the Court of Appeals Err in holding Craker's mistaken belief that she kil…
19-8800 Justice Jerrell Knight v. Alabama Alabama 2020-06-25 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process equal-protection jury-prejudice prejudicial-evidence racial-bias sentencing In a capital case in which the defendant's jury observes him in shackles and jail clothing, and multiple members of the jury expressed the belief that…
19-8778 John Michael Allen v. Arizona Arizona 2020-06-22 Denied IFP accomplice capital-punishment criminal-sentencing eighth-amendment felony innocent-life nontriggerman Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits capital punishment for a "nontriggerman" accomplice to a felony that is not likely to result in the loss of inn…
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…
19-1361 Richard Jordan, et al. v. Georgia Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2020-06-11 Denied 8th-amendment alternative-method availability capital-punishment death-penalty department-of-corrections departments-of-corrections execution-method feasibility Glossip-v-Gross legal-precedent Whether evidence of how other departments of corrections have obtained and successfully administered an alternative execution method is relevant to sh…
19-8660 Thomas Michael Riley v. Arizona Arizona 2020-06-10 Denied IFP aggravating-factors capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-review death-penalty furman-v-georgia gregg-v-georgia narrowing-requirement sentencing-scheme "To pass constitutional muster, a capital sentencing scheme must genuinely narrow the class of persons eligible for the death penalty and must reasona…
19-8392 Juan Balderas v. Texas Texas 2020-05-04 Denied IFP brady-violation capital-punishment constitutional-violations due-process evidentiary-hearing habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance post-conviction state-procedures In a death penalty case, where a state provides a post-conviction procedure for challenging the unresolved constitutional violations that occurred at …
19-8341 Richard Knight v. Florida Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2020-04-23 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure florida-sentencing hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-precedent ring-v-arizona teague-standard teague-v-lane 1. Pursuant to the test of Teague v. Lane, is Hurst v. Florida retroactive to Petitioner, whose Florida capital sentence became final after the issuan…
19-8229 Donnie L. Harris, Jr. v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2020-04-09 Denied IFP capital-punishment due-process fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment newly-discovered-evidence statute-of-limitations statutory-interpretation Does Oklahoma's strict application of its statutory requirement that all newly discovered evidence in capital cases must be presented within one year …
19-8175 Kitrich A. Powell v. Nevada Nevada 2020-04-03 Denied IFP aggravating-factors burden-of-proof capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty jury-instructions mitigating-circumstances sixth-amendment Did the Nevada Supreme Court violate Mr. Powell's constitutional rights by making the outweighing requirement an afterthought for the jury, used only …
19-8090 Joseph Weldon Smith v. Nevada Nevada 2020-03-24 Granted IFP aggravating-factors capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty due-process jury-instructions mitigating-circumstances sixth-amendment Did the Nevada Supreme Court violate Mr. Smith's constitutional rights by making the outweighing requirement an afterthought for the jury, used only t…
19-1100 Leroy D. Cropper v. Arizona Arizona 2020-03-09 Denied Amici (2) capital-punishment death-penalty due-process ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-instructions parole-eligibility parole-ineligibility simmons-v-south-carolina sixth-amendment Whether a death sentence may be carried out when defense counsel unreasonably fails to inform the jury of parole ineligibility under Simmons v. South …
19-7862 Wesley Paul Coonce, Jr. v. United States Eighth Circuit 2020-03-03 Denied Relisted (4)IFP atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment confrontation-clause eighth-amendment equal-protection fifth-amendment intellectual-disability moral-culpability sentencing-hearing 1. Because the age at which a capital defendant became intellectually disabled does not bear on his moral culpability, did the Court of Appeals err in…
19-7689 Nicholas Todd Sutton v. Tennessee Tennessee 2020-02-18 Denied IFP capital-punishment fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment retroactivity vagueness 5th-amendment capital-punishment due-process fair-notice fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment johnson-v-united-states retroactivity vagueness vagueness-doctrine Did Tennessee decisions applying the facially-vague prior violent felony aggravating circumstance, not handed down until after Sutton committed his ca…
19-7680 Samuel Howard v. Nevada Nevada 2020-02-14 Denied IFP appellate-review capital-punishment constitutional-law criminal-procedure death-penalty death-penalty-sentencing due-process hurst-v-florida judicial-precedent retroactivity sentencing sentencing-procedure sixth-amendment 1. Whether appellate reweighing is constitutional after Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016). 2. Whether Hurst is retroactive.
19-7647 William P. Castillo v. Nevada Nevada 2020-02-12 Denied Amici (1)IFP aggravating-factors appellate-review apprendi apprendi-line capital-punishment capital-sentencing clemons-v-mississippi death-penalty jury-instructions mitigating-circumstances mitigating-evidence mitigation-evidence reweighing Nevada courts instruct juries that they may consider imposing a death sentence only after finding at least one statutory aggravating factor beyond a r…
19-7541 Richard Hurles v. David Shinn, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, et al. Ninth Circuit 2020-02-04 Denied IFP 14th-amendment 8th-amendment capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment judicial-bias judicial-ethics recusal right-to-fair-trial 1. Are the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments violated where a judge who has personally litigated against a defendant in the same case presides over his…
19-967 Craig M. Wood v. Missouri Missouri 2020-02-03 Denied Relisted (2) capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-rights death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment jury-determination jury-trial sentencing sixth-amendment Whether the Constitution requires that a jury, rather than a judge, weigh the aggravating and mitigating circumstances to determine whether a defendan…
19-7488 Donnie Cleveland Lance v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Georgia 2020-01-29 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-procedure death-penalty due-process equal-protection fourteenth-amendment grand-jury grand-jury-selection habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel prosecutorial-misconduct sixth-amendment Was petitioner denied his rights under the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments when he was sentenced to death following his indictment by a non-r…
19-7481 Patrick Henry Murphy v. Texas Texas 2020-01-29 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254 capital-murder capital-punishment constitutional-law death-penalty due-process enmund-v-florida federal-habeas jury-determination jury-trial sentencing tison-v-arizona Does Ring dictate that a jury determine whether a capital murder defendant is eligible for a sentence of death under Enmund and Tison, and, if so, is …
19-941 Billy Daniel Raulerson, Jr. v. Warden, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison Eleventh Circuit 2020-01-28 Denied Amici (2) aedpa atkins-v-virginia burden-of-proof capital-punishment cooper-v-oklahoma due-process habeas-corpus intellectual-disability supreme-court-precedent Whether this Court's unanimous holding in Cooper v. Oklahoma, 517 U.S. 348 (1996), clearly established that Georgia could not impose the burden of req…
19-7456 Taurus Carroll v. Alabama Alabama 2020-01-28 Denied IFP atkins-standard atkins-v-virginia brumfield-v-cain capital-punishment current-medical-standards eighth-amendment hall-v-florida intellectual-disability medical-standards moore-v-texas supreme-court-review Does the Alabama Supreme Court's continued reliance upon evidence that fails to adhere to current medical standards in rejecting Mr. Carroll's claim o…
19-922 Donnie Cleveland Lance v. Georgia Georgia 2020-01-23 Denied capital-punishment dna-testing due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection extraordinary-motion fourteenth-amendment innocence-claim new-trial 1. Was petitioner denied due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment by the state courts' imposition of extra-statutory requiremen…
19-7309 James Milton Dailey v. Florida Florida 2020-01-15 Denied Amici (5)Relisted (5)IFP capital-punishment chambers-exception chambers-v-mississippi codefendant-confession due-process fifth-amendment hearsay hearsay-evidence innocence parole third-party-confession Since being convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1987, Petitioner James Dailey has steadfastly maintained his innocence. No eyewitness, physi…
19-7063 Leeton Jahwanza Thomas v. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 2019-12-26 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury-trial reasonable-doubt sixth-amendment Were Petitioner's rights under the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution violated by a Pennsylvania statutory sch…
19-6976 James Clayton Johnson v. Arizona Arizona 2019-12-17 Denied IFP arizona capital-punishment constitutional-challenge cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty due-process evidentiary-hearing factual-findings meaningful-opportunity standing Does a court deprive a capital defendant of his due process right to a meaningful opportunity to be heard when the defendant challenges the constituti…
19-6918 Michael Wade Nance v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Eleventh Circuit 2019-12-12 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing circuit-split constitutional-rights habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation-strategy record-evidence strickland-v-washington stun-belt trial-counsel 1. The state habeas testimony of Michael Nance's trial counsel established that they inexplicably omitted highly mitigating evidence from Mr. Nance's …
19-6856 James W. Riley v. Delaware Delaware 2019-12-05 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP capital-punishment conflict-of-interest constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process evidentiary-considerations fair-trial ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-misconduct judicial-review right-to-counsel right-to-fair-trial sentencing sentencing-discretion Should this court extend Its Hurst v. Florida ruling to the pre-trial and trial stages of capital murder case where it is shown that the Judge's sente…
19-6860 In Re Lee Hall 2019-12-04 Denied IFP biased-juror capital-case capital-punishment due-process extraordinary-circumstances habeas habeas-corpus habeas-review juror-bias original-jurisdiction structural-error Whether the structural error of service of by biased juror in a capital case, discovered on the eve of execution, presents extraordinary circumstances…
19-697 James Dwight Pavatt v. Tommy Sharp, Interim Warden Tenth Circuit 2019-12-03 Denied Amici (2) aggravating-factor aggravating-factors arbitrary-application capital-punishment capital-punishment-sentencing capital-sentence cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment habeas-corpus procedural-bar procedural-ruling A divided panel of the Tenth Circuit, sitting en banc, vacated a panel opinion that reversed a capital sentence on the ground that the sentence rested…
19-6604 Ray Jefferson Cromartie v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Eleventh Circuit 2019-11-13 Denied IFP capital-case-appeal capital-punishment circuit-split diligence evidentiary-hearing habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel malice-murder new-evidence new-evidence-of-innocence In this capital case, Ray Jefferson Cromartie was convicted of malice murder and sentenced to death as the man who shot a store clerk, Richard Slysz. …
19-6479 In Re Charles Russell Rhines 2019-11-01 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment habeas-corpus juror-bias sexual-orientation Should this Court exercise its original habeas jurisdiction to transfer this petition to the district court for a hearing regarding Petitioner's subst…
19-6156 Randy Ethan Halprin v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-10-03 Denied Relisted (6)IFP abuse-of-the-writ aedpa anti-semitism capital-punishment constitutional-claim due-process federal-procedure habeas-corpus judicial-bias racial-discrimination recusal second-or-successive-petition Whether Halprin's second federal petition raising a judicial bias claim is "second or successive" under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(2) if the judge concealed …
19-6061 Phillip Jones v. Ohio Ohio 2019-09-25 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation-investigation sixth-amendment strickland-v-washington Whether, pursuant to Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) and its progeny, trial counsel is ineffective in a capital case when counsel conduc…
19-239 Larry Benzon, Warden v. Troy Michael Kell Tenth Circuit 2019-08-23 Denied Amici (1) appeal appeals appellate-review capital-case capital-punishment collateral-order-doctrine district-court federalism habeas-corpus rhines-v-weber stay Whether a district court's order staying and abeying a capital prisoner's habeas corpus petition under Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269 (2005), is immedi…
19-5682 In Re Gary Ray Bowles 2019-08-22 Denied IFP 28-usc-2244 atkins-claim atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment death-penalty habeas-corpus intellectual-disability successive-habeas-petition successive-petition writ-of-certiorari Petitioner Gary Ray Bowles is an intellectually disabled man who is scheduled to be executed by the State of Florida on August 22, 2019, at 6:00 p.m. …
19-5672 Gary Ray Bowles v. Mark S. Inch, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2019-08-22 Denied IFP 28-usc-2244 capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment habeas-corpus intellectual-disability procedural-obstacles Gary Ray Bowles is an intellectually disabled man on Florida's death row. Despite this Court's holding in Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 321 (2002)…
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? …
19-5394 Michael Leon Bell v. California California 2019-07-30 Denied IFP aggravating-circumstances capital-punishment constitutional-procedure death-penalty due-process fourteenth-amendment jury-fact-finding jury-trial mitigating-circumstances reasonable-doubt sentencing sentencing-standards sixth-amendment Does California's death penalty scheme, which permits the trier of fact to impose a sentence of death without finding beyond a reasonable doubt (1) th…
19-5313 Thomas Arthur Kahlow v. Florida Florida 2019-07-24 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP 14th-amendment capital-punishment constitutional-limits due-process excessive-punishment federal-statutes fourteenth-amendment indefinite-imprisonment life-imprisonment state-constitutional-law state-governments WHETHER THE RIGHT TO DUE PROCESS OF LAW GUARANTEED BY THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION'S FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT IS DENIED BY FLORIDA'S IMPOSITION OF A CAP…
19-5062 Henry Lee Jones v. Tennessee Tennessee 2019-07-03 Denied IFP capital-punishment confrontation-clause due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment Hearsay sixth-amendment witness-testimony In this capital case, the Tennessee courts permitted the State to introduce a transcript of prior testimony of its "primary witness" rather than prese…
18-9838 Cedric Floyd v. Alabama Alabama 2019-06-27 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment fifth-amendment remorse right-to-remain-silent 1. In a capital case in which the defendant exercises his right not to testify, are the Fifth and Eighth Amendments violated when the State argues in …
18-9745 Marion Wilson, Jr. v. Georgia Georgia 2019-06-20 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment dna-testing due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection forensic-evidence procedural-issues procedural-safeguards 1. Was Petitioner denied due process by the state court's refusal to provide a hearing that was mandated by Georgia's DNA statute, particularly given …
18A1326 Lisa Montgomery v. United States Eighth Circuit 2019-06-18 Presumed Complete capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability constitutional-challenge death-penalty federal-habeas section-2255 Question not identified.
18-9626 In Re Rexford Tweed 2019-06-11 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-violation due-process due-process,eighth-amendment,florida-constitution, eighth-amendment habeas-corpus indefinite-sentence life-sentence minimum-mandatory parole parole-eligibility sentencing-statute IS PETITIONER'S FLORIDA CAPITAL LIFE PRISON SENTENCE WITH A 25 YEAR MINIMUM MANDATORY FOLLOWWED BY ELIGIBILITY FOR PAROLE UNDER FLORIDA STATUTE §775.0…
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…
18-9554 In Re Billie J. Allen 2019-06-05 Denied Relisted (2)IFP alabama-v-shelton arizona-v-fulminante capital-case capital-punishment due-process gideon-v-wainwright habeas-corpus mccoy-v-louisiana non-capital-case right-to-counsel structural-error 1. Whether McCoy V Louisiana, 138 S. Ct. 1500 (2018) is a new "watershed rule", akin to Gideon v Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), which falls within t…
18-1495 Bryan P. Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. v. Charles Christopher Williams Fourth Circuit 2019-05-31 Denied aedpa aedpa-review aedpa-standard capital-case capital-punishment capital-sentencing double-edged-evidence double-edged-sword fetal-alcohol-syndrome future-dangerousness habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Is a state court objectively unreasonable, for purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1), when it concludes that a capital defendant was not prejudiced by hi…
18-9468 Melvin Bonnell v. Tim Shoop, Warden Sixth Circuit 2019-05-29 Denied IFP 28-usc-2244 capital-conviction capital-punishment federal-habeas habeas-corpus jurisdiction jurisdictional-defect magwood-v-patterson nunc-pro-tunc second-or-successive statutory-interpretation Whether, when a state court enters a nunc pro tune judgment to attempt to cure a jurisdictional defect in a capital defendant's conviction, the first …
18-9252 Kevin Foster v. Florida Florida 2019-05-15 Denied IFP capital-murder capital-punishment death-penalty death-sentence due-process eighth-amendment first-degree-murder jury-findings jury-unanimity reasonable-doubt unanimous-verdict 1. Whether Mr. Foster's death sentence is unconstitutional because it violates the Eighth Amendment and the Due Process Clause where the jury did not …
18-9274 William Lee Thompson v. Florida Florida 2019-05-14 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection retroactivity sentencing-procedure teague-v-lane In Hurst v. Florida this Court struck down Florida's longstanding capital sentencing procedures because they authorized a judge, rather than a jury, t…
18-9227 Robert Sparks v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-05-10 Denied IFP capital-punishment cross-examination due-process expert-testimony expert-witness false-testimony harmless-error jury-impartiality prosecutorial-misconduct QUESTION ONE: Does cross-examination of a prosecution's expert cure all harm from that expert's repeated false testimony during a capital punishment p…
18-9214 Jessie Livell Phillips v. Alabama Alabama 2019-05-09 Denied IFP autopsy-photograph capital-murder capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment fair-trial fourteenth-amendment reliable-conviction reliable-sentence In a capital case, does the admission of a gruesome and completely unnecessary internal autopsy photograph, lacking any probative value, and showing t…
18-9151 Blake Joseph Sandlain v. United States Sixth Circuit 2019-05-06 Denied Response WaivedIFP 6th-amendment appellate-counsel capital-punishment criminal-procedure effective-assistance-of-counsel habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel prejudice successive-petition Question not identified.
18-9033 Michael Brandon Samra v. Alabama Alabama 2019-04-30 Denied IFP brain-development capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty eighth-amendment evolving-standards evolving-standards-of-decency juvenile-offender juvenile-offenders neuroscientific-research In Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 578 (2005), this Court held that the Eighth Amendment forbids the imposition of the death penalty on offenders who …
18-8992 Charles Lorraine v. Ohio Ohio 2019-04-25 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty death-sentence eighth-amendment judge-sentencing judicial-fact-finding jury-trial jury-verdict sixth-amendment spaziano-v-florida Is Ohio's death penalty scheme unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida?
18-8970 John William King v. Texas Texas 2019-04-23 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure death-penalty habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel lesser-included-offense mccoy-v-louisiana retroactivity sixth-amendment sixth-amendment-right-to-counsel teague-analysis teague-v-lane watershed-rule 1. Whether McCoy applies when a defendant's attorneys concede, against his wishes, his guilt to a lesser-included offense during final argument, and i…
18-1306 Fred Anderson, Jr. v. Florida Florida 2019-04-16 Denied Amici (3) advisory-jury capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty florida-supreme-court harmless-error hurst-v-florida judge-sentencing jury-trial jury-verdict sixth-amendment structural-error 1. Whether a judge-imposed death sentence that violates Hurst is a structural error requiring reversal of the sentence. 2. Whether a Hurst violation …
18-8844 Farris G. Morris v. Tennessee Sixth Circuit 2019-04-16 Denied IFP recognized by Tyler-v-Cain to determine what opinions are subject to retroac 28-u.s.c.-2244(b)(3)(e) 28-usc-2244 batson-challenge capital-punishment civil-rights collateral-review due-process fourteenth-amendment habeas-corpus jury-discrimination retroactive-application retroactivity supreme-court-authority tyler-v-cain 1. Does the Constitution permit Congress to enact 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(E) to divest this Court of its authority, recognized by Tyler v. Cain, to det…
18-8845 Abel Revill Ochoa v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-04-16 Denied IFP ayestas-v-davis capital-case capital-punishment death-penalty due-process federal-funding funding habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel legal-representation procedural-standard statutory-interpretation (1) Whether, in light of Ayestas v. Davis, 138 S. Ct. 1080 (2018), a court applies an overly burdensome standard for funding under 18 U.S.C. § 3599(f)…
18-8683 James Aren Duckett v. Florida Florida 2019-04-03 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-law due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection retroactivity Whether the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of Equal Protection and the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of capricious capital sentencing impose limits…
18-8670 Demetrius Terrence Frazier v. Alabama Alabama 2019-04-02 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-interpretation cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-sentencing due-process equal-protection judicial-fact-finding jury-fact-finding jury-sentencing jury-trial retroactive-rule retroactivity sixth-amendment 1. Does Alabama's insistence that a judge, not a jury, can weigh the mitigating and aggravating factors and sentence a person to death directly confli…
18-8615 In Re Patrick Henry Murphy 2019-03-28 Denied IFP capital-punishment civil-rights due-process equal-protection establishment-clause execution-protocol first-amendment free-exercise religious-accommodation religious-freedom state-procedure When a State permits members of some faiths (e.g., Christians) to be accompanied in the execution chamber during the execution by a clergyperson of th…
18-8583 Gilbert Postelle v. Mike Carpenter, Interim Warden Tenth Circuit 2019-03-27 Denied IFP capital-punishment eighth-amendment flynn-effect fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel intellectual-disability mitigating-evidence sixth-amendment 1. Whether it violates the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments for a state to defeat a post-conviction claim of ineffective assistance of counsel…
18-8569 Melvin Bonnell v. Ohio Ohio 2019-03-26 Denied IFP appellate-review capital-punishment dna-evidence dna-testing due-process hearsay hearsay-evidence prosecutorial-misconduct In 1988, before DNA was widely available as a forensic tool, Melvin Bonnell was convicted and sentenced to death. Trial testimony established that blo…
18-8466 Gregory Hunt v. Alabama Alabama 2019-03-19 Denied IFP brady-v-maryland brady-vs-maryland capital-case capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process expert-testimony false-evidence prosecutorial-misconduct strickler-v-greene strickler-vs-greene In pursuit of a capital conviction and death sentence in this case, the prosecutor relied on an inflammatory impossibility. At Gregory Hunt's trial in…
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…
18-8409 Anthony Mungin v. Florida Florida 2019-03-14 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty disparate-treatment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment retroactivity Whether the Florida Supreme Court's application of only partial retroactivity of Hurst v. State and Hurst v. Florida violates the Eighth and Fourteent…
18-8415 John L. Lotter v. Nebraska Nebraska 2019-03-13 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment judicial-discretion jury-trial sentencing sixth-amendment 1. Does Nebraska's capital sentencing scheme requiring a three-judge panel, rather than a jury, to impose a sentence of death violate the Eighth Amend…
18-8386 Michael Apelt v. Charles L. Ryan, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections Ninth Circuit 2019-03-12 Denied Amici (1)IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing evidentiary-hearing fact-finding federal-habeas federal-habeas-corpus habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mental-illness mental-impairment prejudice strickland-standard strickland-v-washington When determining if a capital defendant was prejudiced by counsel's deficient performance during state sentencing, whether the federal court may bypas…
18-8389 Marion Wilson, Jr. v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Eleventh Circuit 2019-03-12 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254 brain-damage capital-case capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence strickland-standard strickland-v-washington 1. The Eleventh Circuit did not focus on the state habeas court's actual reasons for rejecting Petitioner's claim that trial counsel's inadequate inve…
18-8399 Randall Scott Jones v. Florida Florida 2019-03-12 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-law death-penalty eighth-amendment eighth-amendment-cruel-and-unusual-punishment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment fourteenth-amendment-due-process hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-v-arizona supremacy-clause supreme-court-precedent 1. Does the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity formula, designed to limit the class of condemned prisoners obtaining a life-or-death jury d…
18-8340 Victor Roblero v. Ralph Diaz, Acting Secretary, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Ninth Circuit 2019-03-08 Denied IFP constitutes a violation of the Sixth Amendment ri specifically the failure to investigate and prese appeal capital-punishment criminal-procedure due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel intellectual-disability mental-health sixth-amendment Question not identified.
18-8323 Bryan Frederick Jennings v. Florida Florida 2019-03-07 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty death-penalty-review eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-state jury-recommendation newly-discovered-evidence 1. Whether the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments require the law of Hurst v. State to be factored into the analysis of the likelihood of a less severe …
18-8300 Paul Glen Everett v. Florida Florida 2019-03-06 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment constitutional-defect harmless-error harmless-error-review hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity sixth-amendment sixth-amendment-error structural-defect structural-error trial-mechanism 1. Whether the Sixth Amendment error identified by this Court in Hurst v. Florida is a structural defect that infects the entire constitutionality of …
18-8090 Edward J. Zakrzewski, II v. Florida Florida 2019-02-22 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure death-penalty eighth-amendment florida-supreme-court fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-state jury-unanimity retroactive-application retroactivity savings-clause substantive-law Whether the Florida Supreme Court's decision in Hurst v. State, 202 So. 3d 40 (Fla. 2016), which retroactively changed the elements necessary for impo…
18-8052 Michael Duane Zack, III v. Florida Florida 2019-02-21 Denied IFP apprendi-v-new-jersey capital-punishment death-penalty death-sentence eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-retroactivity retroactivity Does the partial retroactivity formula for Hurst u. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016), claims designed by the Florida Supreme Court, as applied to a pris…
18-8057 Duane Allen Short v. Ohio Ohio 2019-02-21 Denied IFP capital-defense capital-punishment death-penalty death-row effective-assistance-of-counsel ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation mitigation-evidence plea-bargaining sixth-amendment 1. Is a capital defendant's Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel violated where, but for counsel's intervention and unfounded …
18-8016 James Goff v. Ohio Ohio 2019-02-19 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty hurst-v-florida judicial-fact-finding jury-trial mitigation-evidence resentencing sentencing sixth-amendment Is a trial judge's independent weighing of new mitigation evidence and imposition of the death penalty at a resentencing hearing unconstitutional unde…
18-7772 Antonio Franklin v. Ohio Ohio 2019-02-05 Denied IFP capital-punishment civil-rights constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process effective-counsel execution-date habeas-corpus right-to-counsel Is the right to effective representation critical during which time the State moves for an execution date? Does the constitutional right to effective…
18-7658 Julius Darius Jones v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2019-01-30 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment juror-bias post-conviction post-conviction-review racial-prejudice sixth-amendment 1. Whether newly-discovered evidence establishes that racial prejudice influenced the decision of at least one juror to convict Mr. Jones and sentence…
18-7670 Thomas Alexander Porter v. David Zook, Warden Fourth Circuit 2019-01-30 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-claims death-penalty-sentencing due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment future-dangerousness habeas-corpus mitigating-evidence procedural-due-process 1. Whether a state rule that excludes as irrelevant evidence that a capital defendant is unlikely to pose a risk of future violence in prison is contr…
18-7643 Billy Leon Kearse v. Florida Florida 2019-01-29 Denied IFP apprendi-v-new-jersey capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment retroactivity ring-v-arizona supremacy-clause Does the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity approach providing for relief pursuant to Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016) and Hurst v. …
18-937 Abelino Manriquez v. Ralph Diaz, Acting Secretary, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation California 2019-01-18 Denied actual-bias capital-case capital-punishment fourteenth-amendment habeas-corpus implied-bias juror-bias jury-impartiality life-experiences sixth-amendment What test determines whether a juror's life experiences are so similar to facts in the case that the juror must be disqualified for bias under the Six…
18-7442 Kevin Underwood v. Mike Carpenter, Warden Tenth Circuit 2019-01-16 Denied IFP aggravating-circumstances apprendi-v-new-jersey beyond-reasonable-doubt capital-punishment capital-punishment-scheme capital-sentencing death-penalty due-process jury-findings jury-instructions mitigating-circumstances reasonable-doubt supreme-court-precedent tenth-circuit Whether the Tenth Circuit's decision – that the "beyond the reasonable doubt" standard does not apply to the critical and prerequisite finding by Okla…
18-7457 Charles Edward Case v. California California 2019-01-16 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-amendment criminal-sentencing death-penalty fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury jury-finding reasonable-doubt sixth-amendment Does California's death penalty scheme violate the requirement under the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments that every fact other than a prior con…
18-7428 Harry Jones v. Florida Florida 2019-01-15 Denied IFP arbitrary-cutoff capital-murder capital-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-retroactivity eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity retroactivity 1. Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity rule as to violations pursuant to Hurst v. Florida, which is based on an arbitrary cutoff…
18-7353 Nathaniel Jackson v. Ohio Ohio 2019-01-10 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment judge-sentencing judicial-sentencing jury-recommendation jury-sentencing jury-trial sixth-amendment spaziano-v-florida Is Ohio's death penalty scheme unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida?
18-7226 Omar Blanco v. Florida Florida 2019-01-03 Denied IFP 14th-amendment 8th-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights death-penalty due-process retroactivity supremacy-clause 1. Did Hall v. Florida , 134 S. Ct. 1986 (2014), announce a substantive rule of constitutional law? 2. May a state court hold that a substantive rule…
18-7101 John Samuel Ghobrial v. California California 2018-12-19 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-procedure criminal-sentencing death-penalty due-process fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury-finding jury-trial reasonable-doubt sentencing sixth-amendment statutory-maximum Does California's death penalty scheme violate the requirement under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments that every fact that serves to increa…
18-7091 Steven Anthony Butler v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2018-12-18 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing competence competency-evaluation ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel investigation judicial-process judicial-review mental-competence mental-health mitigating-evidence procedural-fairness 1. When, in reviewing the two-part claim that trial counsel was ineffective both for failing to provide known, relevant information to mental health e…
18-6890 In Re Joseph C. Garcia 2018-11-30 Denied IFP actual-innocence capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty death-row eighth-amendment eighth-amendment-cruel-and-unusual-punishment fourteenth-amendment fourteenth-amendment-due-process psychological-stress 1. Whether Joseph Garcia's extended stay on Texas' death row for nearly 16 years has resulted in his suffering additional severe psychological stress …
18-6891 Joseph C. Garcia v. Texas Texas 2018-11-30 Denied IFP 8th-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights criminal-intent cruel-and-unusual-punishment culpability death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment intent-to-kill mens-rea non-triggerman state-execution Whether the Eighth Amendment now forbids a State from executing a person when there is no evidence that he killed or intended to kill another person.
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 …
18-6843 James Milton Dailey v. Florida Florida 2018-11-27 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-error hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-v-arizona supremacy-clause 1. Does the Florida Supreme Court's partial retro activity decision, which lim its the class of deathsentenced individuals entitled to a jury de termi…
18-697 Tony Von Carruthers v. Tony Mays, Warden Sixth Circuit 2018-11-27 Denied argersinger-v-hamlin capital-case capital-punishment criminal-defendant criminal-procedure due-process faretta-v-california pro-se-representation right-to-counsel sixth-amendment waiver Does depriving a criminal defendant of trial counsel against his will, without at least the warnings and voluntary waiver required by Faretta, violate…
18-6818 Ruben Rangel v. California California 2018-11-26 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-amendments death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment jury-determination jury-trial sentencing 1. Does California's death penalty statute violate the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution by failing to…
18-679 Erick Virgil Hall v. Idaho Idaho 2018-11-23 Denied Amici (1) aggravating-circumstances capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-standards death-penalty felony-murder heinous-atrocious-cruel jury-sentencing narrowing-requirement propensity-to-commit-murder sentencing-guidance utter-disregard To prevent arbitrary imposition of the death penalty, this Court has required use of "'clear and objective standards' that provide 'specific and detai…
18-6766 David Gulbrandson v. Charles L. Ryan, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections Ninth Circuit 2018-11-21 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-punishment-sentencing death-penalty eighth-amendment habeas-corpus procedural-default procedural-ruling second-in-time-petition statutory-aggravating-factors statutory-aggravator successive-petitions (1) Whether reasonable jurists would debate the correctness of the district court's procedural ruling that Gulbrandson's second-in-time § 2254 petitio…
18-6776 Duane Eugene Owen v. Florida Florida 2018-11-21 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection jury-trial retroactivity state-court In Hurst v. Florida this Court struck down Florida's longstanding capital-sentencing procedures because they authorized a judge, rather than a jury, t…
18-6727 John C. Stojetz v. Tim Shoop, Warden Sixth Circuit 2018-11-19 Denied IFP brady-violation capital-punishment due-process exculpatory-evidence ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel medical-records mitigation prosecutorial-misconduct ptsd racial-bias I. Has the Constitutional right to due process of law been violated where a prosecutor withholds prison medical records that substantiate a capital de…
18-6708 Clifford D. Williams v. Ohio Ohio 2018-11-15 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment judge-sentencing jury-trial jury-verdict sentencing-phase sixth-amendment spaziano-v-florida Is Ohio's death penalty scheme unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida?
18-6582 Kareem Glass v. Melissa Hainsworth, Superintendent, State Correctional Institution at Somerset Third Circuit 2018-11-06 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-procedure appellate-rights capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty due-process ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-circumstances penalty-phase sixth-amendment waiver waiver-of-rights WHERE CAPITAL COUNSEL INDUCED PETITIONER INTO A WAIVER OF HIS ENTIRE PENALTY PHASE AND A WAIVER OF HIS APPELLATE RIGHTS IN RETURN FOR A GUARANTEED LIF…
18-6588 Lesley Eugene Warren v. Edward Thomas, Warden Fourth Circuit 2018-11-06 Denied IFP capital-punishment character-evidence circuit-split civil-rights death-penalty due-process future-dangerousness parole parole-ineligibility prosecutorial-misconduct sentencing sentencing-procedure simmons-v-south-carolina Is it an unreasonable application of Simmons v. South Carolina for a State court to deny a parole ineligibility instruction where the prosecution repe…
18-6532 Austin Myers v. Ohio Ohio 2018-11-01 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-statute eighth-amendment judge-sentencing judicial-sentencing jury-trial jury-verdict sixth-amendment spaziano-v-florida Did Hurst v. Florida render Ohio's death penalty scheme unconstitutional?
18-6378 Robert Ira Peede v. Florida Florida 2018-10-18 Denied IFP arbitrary-cutoff capital-murder capital-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-retroactivity due-process eighth-amendment evolving-standards-of-decency fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity retroactivity 1. Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity rule as to violations pursuant to Hurst v. Florida, which is based on an arbitrary cutoff…
18-6298 Robert Alan Fratta v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2018-10-11 Denied Relisted (2)IFP capital-punishment civil-rights constitutional-rights constructive-amendment due-process fatal-variance habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jackson-review miscarriage-of-justice pro-se-representation right-to-counsel standing sufficiency-of-evidence *** CAPITAL CASE IS IT UNCONSTITUTIONAL FOR A U.S. COURT OF APPEALS TO ACCEPT, SANCTION OR MAKE DECISIONS THAT: ALLOW STATE COURTS 110 REFUSE TO. ACCE…
18-443 Bobby James Moore v. Texas Texas 2018-10-09 Denied Amici (3)Relisted (5) capital-punishment clinical-criteria clinical-standards criminal-procedure eighth-amendment intellectual-disability lay-stereotypes medical-standards moore-v-texas 1. Whether the Eighth Amendment and this Court's decision in Moore v. Texas, 137 S. Ct. 1039 (2017) prohibit relying on non-clinical criteria and lay …
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…
18-6207 Manuel Ernesto Paiz Guevara v. United States Fourth Circuit 2018-10-03 Denied Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP abuse-of-discretion capital-crime capital-punishment criminal-procedure death-penalty eighth-amendment fourth-circuit-split mandatory-sentencing miller-v-alabama right-to-counsel sentencing sentencing-discretion statutory-interpretation 1. Whether the Fourth Circuit erroneously held - in conflict with the plain language of 18 U.S.C. § 3005 and in conflict with a 45-year split between …
18-6167 Ronald Wayne Clark, Jr. v. Florida Florida 2018-10-02 Denied IFP capital-case capital-case,eighth-amendment,cruel-and-unusual-pu capital-punishment codefendant-culpability codefendants cruel-and-unusual-punishment cruel-unusual-punishment death-penalty death-sentence eighth-amendment proportionality-review reliability-of-death-sentence 1. Whether an assessment of the relative culpability of codefendants in a capital case in Florida is required pursuant to the Eighth Amendment in orde…
18-6182 Randolph Moore v. Nevada, et al. Nevada 2018-10-02 Denied IFP brady-v-maryland capital-murder capital-punishment crucial-evidence due-process fair-trial habeas-corpus outcome-of-trial prosecutorial-misconduct withheld-evidence witness-tampering While prosecuting Randolph Moore for capital murder, the prosecutors in this case relied heavily on testimony from Angela Saldana —the only State witn…
18-6110 Mikal Mahdi v. South Carolina South Carolina 2018-09-28 Denied IFP appointment-of-counsel capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-procedure death-penalty death-sentence habeas-corpus indigent-counsel ineffective-assistance-of-counsel post-conviction-relief procedural-history right-to-counsel sixth-amendment south-carolina-supreme-court state-court Question not identified.
18-6075 Daniel Clate Acker v. Texas Texas 2018-09-21 Denied IFP adversarial-testing capital-punishment criminal-justice-system-legitimacy criminal-liability death-penalty due-process fairness false-theory-of-liability miscarriage-of-justice post-conviction-review This case weaves these threads together and asks whether due process requires a state post-conviction review process in those rare instances where a S…
18-6059 Cedric Carter v. Ohio Ohio 2018-09-20 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty eighth-amendment judge-sentencing jury-trial jury-verdict sentencing-phase sixth-amendment spaziano-v-florida Is Ohio's death penalty scheme unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida ?
18-5892 Andre Jackson v. Ohio Ohio 2018-09-06 Denied IFP 6th-amendment 8th-amendment capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment judge-sentencing judicial-sentencing jury-recommendation jury-sentencing jury-trial sixth-amendment Is Ohio's death penalty scheme unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida?
18-5793 Ray Lamar Johnston v. Florida Florida 2018-08-28 Denied Relisted (4)IFP caldwell-v-mississippi capital-punishment capital-punishment-system death-penalty due-process equal-protection florida harmless-error hurst-relief hurst-v-florida jury-trial sixth-amendment 1. Does the Florida Supreme Court's holding that a Hurst error is per se harmless where a jury issues a generalized unanimous recommendation for death…
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…
18-5597 David E. Miller v. Tony Mays, Warden Sixth Circuit 2018-08-15 Denied IFP buck-v-davis capital-punishment civil-rights due-process federal-civil-procedure ineffective-assistance-counsel ineffective-assistance-of-counsel martinez-v-ryan rule-60b6 trevino-v-thaler Under Buell v. Davis, does the change in law announced in Martinez and Trevino, when coupled with a particularly substantial deprivation of a capital …
18-5517 Mike Peter Gallardo v. Arizona Arizona 2018-08-08 Denied IFP capital-jury capital-punishment citizen-jurors due-process eighth-amendment fair-cross-section fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance jury-composition sixth-amendment Almost a decade ago, this Court unanimously held that, "If a defendant is tried before a qualified jury composed of individuals not challengeable for …
18-5434 Troy Victorino v. Florida Florida 2018-08-02 Denied IFP 14th-amendment 5th-amendment capital-punishment criminal-punishment death-penalty double-jeopardy due-process ex-post-facto fifth-amendment florida-supreme-court fourteenth-amendment jury-sentencing resentencing statutory-interpretation 1. Does the Florida Supreme Court ruling that the automatic-resentencing-tolife provision of Florida Statutes Section 775.082(2) applies only if death…
18-5442 Craig Alan Wall, Sr. v. Florida Florida 2018-08-02 Denied Relisted (2)IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights crawford-standard crawford-v-washington due-process fifth-amendment forced-appeal fourteenth-amendment hearsay-exception separation-of-powers sixth-amendment unreasonable-determination-of-facts -CAPITAL CASE- REQUEST TO CERTIFY CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH 28 U.S.C. § 2403(b): How is Florida Statute § 90.804(2)(f) (2012) "Hearsa…
18-5402 Thomas Dewey Pope v. Florida Florida 2018-07-31 Denied IFP 8th-amendment caldwell-v-mississippi capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection hurst-v-florida hurst-v-state montgomery-v-louisiana retroactivity supremacy-clause 1. Does the Florida Supreme Court's determination that the jury findings required by Hurst v. Florida and Hurst v. State enhance the reliability of de…
18-5415 Louis B. Gaskin v. Florida Florida 2018-07-31 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-sentence due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection jury-trial retroactivity unconventional-rules 1. Whether the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of Equal Protection and the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of capricious capital sentencing impose lim…
18-5396 Calvin McMillan v. Alabama Alabama 2018-07-30 Denied IFP appearance-of-bias campaign-contributions caperton-v-massey capital-punishment constitutional-standard due-process ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-bias judicial-recusal post-conviction An Alabama jury voted to sentence Petitioner Calvin McMillan to life in prison for capital murder. Circuit Judge John Bush overrode the jury's decisio…
18-5375 Christopher Henriquez v. California California 2018-07-27 Denied IFP aggravating-factors burden-of-proof capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-sentencing death-penalty due-process equal-protection jury-trial mitigating-circumstances reasonable-doubt Whether the California death penalty scheme violates the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments by permitting the trier of fact to impose a sentence o…
18-5376 Mark Allen Geralds v. Florida Florida 2018-07-27 Denied IFP arbitrary-cutoff capital-murder capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity retroactivity 1. Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity rule as to violations pursuant to Hurst v. Florida, which is based on an arbitrary cutoff…
18-5352 Paul Anthony Brown v. Florida Florida 2018-07-25 Denied IFP arbitrary-cutoff capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty death-penalty-retroactivity due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity retroactivity 1. Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity rule as to violations pursuant to Hurst v. Florida, which is based on an arbitrary cutoff…
18-5354 Darryl Brian Barwick v. Florida Florida 2018-07-25 Denied IFP arbitrary-cutoff capital-murder capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity retroactivity 1. Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity rule as to violations pursuant to Hurst v. Florida, which is based on an arbitrary cutoff…
18-5330 Gregory Alan Kokal v. Julie L. Jones, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Florida 2018-07-24 Denied IFP capital-case capital-case,eighth-amendment,cruel-and-unusual-pu capital-punishment codefendant-culpability codefendants cruel-and-unusual-punishment culpability death-sentence eighth-amendment proportionality-review 1. Whether an assessment of the relative culpability of codefendants in a capital case in Florida is required pursuant to the Eighth Amendment in orde…
18-5278 Christopher Collings v. Missouri Missouri 2018-07-19 Denied IFP capital-punishment culpability deliberation due-process eighth-amendment eighth-amendment-reliability intoxication jury-instructions mens-rea mental-state Whether it violates th e Eighth Amendment to instruct a capital jury that they may not consider evidence of the defendant's intoxication at the time o…
18-5240 Roy Lee Ward v. Robert E. Carter, Jr., Commissioner, Indiana Department of Correction, et al. Indiana 2018-07-17 Denied Response WaivedIFP capital-punishment due-process fourteenth-amendment lethal-injection lethal-substances notice prisoner-rights state-execution state-prisoners Whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution entitles condemned state prisoners to notice of the letha…
18-5246 Warren Darrell Rivers v. Texas Texas 2018-07-17 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-punishment-sentencing cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment individualized-sentencing sentencing sentencing-determination WHETHER PROSECUTION EVIDENCE THAT A CAPITAL DEFENDANT HAS BEEN SENTENCED TO DEATH ONCE BEFORE IN THE SAME CASE IMPERMISSIBLY UNDERMINES THE SENTENCING…
18-5160 Michael Anthony Tanzi v. Florida Florida 2018-07-09 Denied Relisted (5)IFP caldwell-v-mississippi capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment harmless-error hurst-v-florida hurst-violation judicial-procedure per-se-rule supreme-court-precedent 1. Does the Florida Supreme Court's application of a per se harmless–error rule to violations of Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016), in every pre…
18-34 Pablo San Martin v. Florida Florida 2018-07-05 Denied capital-punishment eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-cutoff-formula ring-v-arizona Does the retroactivity formula created by the Florida Supreme Court pursuant to Hurst v. Florida, 136 S.Ct. 616 (2016) violate the Eighth and Fourteen…
18-5065 Manuel Antonio Rodriguez v. Florida Florida 2018-07-05 Denied IFP caldwell-v-mississippi capital-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-sentencing eighth-amendment furman-v-georgia hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-v-arizona supremacy-clause 1. Whether the Florida Supreme Court's per se harmless-error rule, which deems Hurst errors harmless in every case in which the defendant's pre-Hurst …
18-5122 Thomas Overton v. Florida Florida 2018-07-05 Denied IFP apprendi-v-new-jersey capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty death-penalty-retroactivity due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-v-arizona supremacy-clause supreme-court 1. Does the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity approach providing for relief pursuant to Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016) and Hurst …
18-5091 Kevin Don Foster v. Florida Florida 2018-07-02 Denied IFP apprendi-v-new-jersey capital-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-retroactivity eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-v-arizona 1. Does the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity approach providing for relief pursuant to Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016) and Hurst …
18-5037 Richard Eugene Hamilton v. Florida Florida 2018-06-29 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentence capital-sentencing eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-determination retroactivity supremacy-clause Does the Florida Supreme Court's decision limiting the retroactivity of Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016), to convictions final after the date o…
18-5051 Samuel Jason Derrick v. Florida Florida 2018-06-29 Denied IFP arbitrary-cutoff capital-murder capital-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-retroactivity due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity retroactivity sentencing 1. Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity rule as to violations pursuant to Hurst v. Florida, which is based on an arbitrary cutoff…
18-5054 Brandy Bain Jennings v. Florida Florida 2018-06-29 Denied IFP arbitrary-sentencing capital-punishment capital-sentencing disparate-treatment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment retroactivity 1. Whether the Florida Supreme Court's application of only partial retroactivity of Hurst v. State and Hurst v. Florida violates the Eighth and Fourte…
18-5012 Ian Deco Lightbourne v. Florida Florida 2018-06-28 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing disparate-treatment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment retroactivity Whether Florida's limited retroactive application of its Eighth Amendment decision in Hurst v. State violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments bec…
18A1200 Robert Joe Long v. Mark S. Inch, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Florida Denied capital-punishment constitutional-violation death-penalty eighth-amendment execution-stay habeas-corpus Question not identified.
18A1346 Marion Wilson, Jr. v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Georgia Denied capital-punishment clemency death-penalty eighth-amendment execution-stay prosecutorial-misconduct Question not identified.
24A349 Robert Leslie Roberson III v. Texas Texas Denied actual-innocence capital-punishment changed-science due-process forensic-evidence shaken-baby-syndrome Whether the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals violated Robert Leslie Roberson III's constitutional rights to due process and a meaningful opportunity to…
25A378 Charles Ray Crawford v. Mississippi Mississippi Denied capital-punishment defense-strategy ineffective-assistance retroactivity right-to-counsel sixth-amendment Question not identified.
24A391 Christopher Collings v. David Vandergriff, Warden Missouri Denied capital-punishment eighth-amendment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance intellectual-disability procedural-default Question not identified.
24A498 Carey Grayson v. John Q. Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit Denied capital-punishment conscious-suffocation cruel-and-unusual-punishment eighth-amendment execution-method nitrogen-hypoxia Question not identified.
25A577 Richard Barry Randolph v. Florida, et al. Florida Denied capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment irreparable-harm mental-competency method-of-execution Question not identified.
24A284 Freddie Owens v. Bryan Stirling, et al. Fourth Circuit Denied capital-punishment competency cruel-and-unusual death-penalty eighth-amendment mental-illness Question not identified.
24A1261 Richard Gerald Jordan v. Mississippi Mississippi Denied capital-punishment due-process ex-post-facto-clause res-judicata substantive-law successive-petition Whether the Mississippi Supreme Court's inconsistent application of Mississippi law—holding that all legislation is substantive law under Howell and R…
24A1143 Richard Gerald Jordan v. Mississippi Mississippi Denied ake-v-oklahoma capital-punishment due-process mcwilliams-v-dunn mental-health-expert sixth-amendment Whether the Mississippi Supreme Court's refusal to apply this Court's precedent in McWilliams v. Dunn, 582 U.S. 183 (2017), which clarified that Ake v…
24A1044 Jeffrey G. Hutchinson v. Florida, et al. Florida Denied capital-punishment death-warrant due-process-clause eighth-amendment notice-and-opportunity-to-be-heard stay-of-execution Whether the Florida Supreme Court violated Mr. Hutchinson's due process rights by failing to provide adequate notice of his death warrant, truncating …
24A956 Mikal Mahdi v. Bryan Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections South Carolina Denied capital-punishment childhood-trauma ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence sixth-amendment strickland-standard Question not identified.