| 25-6909 |
Malik Allah-U-Akbar, fka Odraye G. Jones v. Margaret Bradshaw, Warden |
Sixth Circuit |
2026-02-25 |
Pending |
IFP |
capital-punishment death-sentence due-process habeas-corpus racial-discrimination writ-enforcement |
1. Where a sovereign fails to comply with a conditional writ of habeas corpus, does a district court's subsequent order of "unconditional release" ent… |
| 25A215 |
Gary David Green v. Texas |
Texas |
2025-08-22 |
Presumed Complete |
|
certiorari death-row death-sentence due-process indigent-defendant texas-criminal-appeals |
Question not identified. |
| 24A513 |
Tony Barksdale v. Steve T. Marshall, Attorney General of Alabama, et al. |
Eleventh Circuit |
2024-11-26 |
Presumed Complete |
|
capital-murder certificate-of-appealability death-sentence eleventh-circuit federal-review habeas-corpus |
Question not identified. |
| 24-5713 |
Hector Acosta v. Texas |
Texas |
2024-10-07 |
Denied |
IFP |
death-sentence due-process equal-protection fourteenth-amendment national-origin race-discrimination |
1. Whether the State violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of
the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution when it invok… |
| 24A194 |
Hector Acosta v. Texas |
Texas |
2024-08-22 |
Presumed Complete |
|
capital-murder death-sentence equal-protection fourteenth-amendment jury-selection racial-bias |
Question not identified. |
| 23A1165 |
Harry Franklin Phillips v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections |
Eleventh Circuit |
2024-06-27 |
Presumed Complete |
|
circuit-court death-sentence federal-review first-degree-murder habeas-corpus post-conviction-relief |
Question not identified. |
| 23A945 |
Clarence Mack v. Margaret Bradshaw, Warden |
Sixth Circuit |
2024-04-22 |
Presumed Complete |
|
capital-case certificate-of-appealability constitutional-claims death-sentence habeas-corpus sixth-circuit |
Question not identified. |
| 23-5630 |
Jack R. Sliney v. Florida |
Florida |
2023-09-21 |
Denied |
Relisted (2)IFP |
14th-amendment 8th-amendment age-of-defendant death-penalty death-sentence due-process eighth-amendment evidentiary-hearing fourteenth-amendment juvenile-offenders |
Whether under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution, Florida may impose a death sentence upon an individual who was under the age o… |
| 22-490 |
Lydell Chestnut, Deputy Warden v. Quincy J. Allen |
Fourth Circuit |
2022-11-23 |
Denied |
Amici (1)Relisted (3) |
aedpa death-penalty death-sentence eating-disorder federal-habeas fourth-circuit-review mental-health mental-health-evidence schizophrenia sentencing-consideration state-post-conviction statutory-limitations |
Did the Fourth Circuit violate 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) limitations and needlessly overturn a state death sentence on an insubstantial premise that Allen's… |
| 21-6590 |
Terry Lynn King v. Tennessee |
Tennessee |
2021-12-14 |
Denied |
IFP |
8th-amendment categorical-approach constitutional-vagueness death-penalty death-sentence due-process elements-based-approach johnson-precedent prior-conviction prior-violent-felony sentencing-aggravator vagueness |
(1) Is the 'prior violent felony conviction' aggravating factor in Tennessee's death penalty statutes unconstitutional under Johnson v. United States,… |
| 20-1568 |
Teresa Miller v. United States |
Fourth Circuit |
2021-05-12 |
Denied |
Response Waived |
appellate-review constitutional-rights criminal-procedure death-penalty death-sentence due-process judicial-procedure judicial-review |
Why did the court feel it necessary to order the defendant with a death sentence, so that they would not have their conduct or actions reviewed; why n… |
| 20-7930 |
Oscar Smith v. Tennessee |
Tennessee |
2021-05-05 |
Denied |
IFP |
death-penalty death-sentence due-process fair-trial fundamental-rights juror-bias juror-misconduct procedural-rules state-court-proceedings |
Whether a state court violates the federal due process rights of a death sentenced prisoner who has asserted a colorable claim of juror bias and/or mi… |
| 20-5954 |
Meryl S. McDonald v. Florida |
Florida |
2020-10-08 |
Denied |
IFP |
criminal-procedure death-penalty death-sentence due-process equal-protection fourteenth-amendment post-conviction postconviction-counsel pro-se-filing right-to-counsel |
The question presented in this case is whether rule 3.851(b)(6)&(i) found in the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure is unconstitutional and violates … |
| 20-5767 |
William Emmett LeCroy, Jr. v. United States |
Eleventh Circuit |
2020-09-22 |
Denied |
IFP |
all-writs-act death-sentence district-court-discretion execution-date exigent-circumstances federal-district-court federal-procedure injunction judicial-modification stay-of-execution |
May a federal district court reset or modify an execution date for a federally death-sentenced inmate in order to manage unforeseen exigent circumstan… |
| 20-5766 |
Christopher Andre Vialva v. United States |
Fifth Circuit |
2020-09-21 |
Denied |
IFP |
attorney-general-power death-penalty death-sentence execution-procedures federal-courts federal-death-penalty-act federal-law judicial-precedent state-law state-law-implementation |
Since the federal government resumed executions this year, after a 17-year hiatus, the Courts of Appeals have addressed challenges to federal methods … |
| 19-8742 |
Harold Wayne Nichols v. Tennessee |
Tennessee |
2020-06-18 |
Denied |
IFP |
arbitrary-and-capricious death-penalty death-sentence eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment judicial-override prior-felony-aggravator settlement-agreement vagueness-doctrine |
The death sentence in this case is supported by only one aggravating circumstance, Tennessee's prior violent felony conviction aggravator. The elected… |
| 19-6567 |
Danny Lee Hill v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2019-11-08 |
Denied |
IFP |
bite-mark-evidence constitutional-rights conviction death-penalty death-sentence due-process expert-testimony fair-trial habeas-corpus scientific-evidence |
Bite-mark comparison evidence was the foundation of the State's case that convicted Petitioner Danny Lee Hill of murder and sentenced him to death. Th… |
| 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 … |
| 18-9117 |
Scotty Garnell Morrow v. Benjamin Ford, Warden |
Georgia |
2019-05-02 |
Denied |
IFP |
death-penalty death-sentence due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida judicial-fact-finding jury-trial jury-unanimity ring-v-arizona sentencing sixth-amendment |
"The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death." Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616, 619 (… |
| 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? |
| 18-8052 |
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… |
| 18-7540 |
David Dewayne Riley v. Alabama |
Alabama |
2019-01-24 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-post-conviction-proceedings capital-proceedings collateral-review death-penalty death-sentence effective-assistance-of-counsel ineffective-assistance martinez-v-ryan murray-v-giarratano post-conviction-counsel precedent state-court |
David Riley filed a pro se state post-conviction petition because, unlike every other state, Alabama does not provide counsel to death-sentenced inmat… |
| 18-6902 |
Scott Mansfield v. Florida |
Florida |
2018-12-03 |
Denied |
IFP |
criminal-conviction criminal-procedure death-penalty death-sentence due-process fact-finding findings-of-fact jury-findings jury-instructions notice procedural-due-process sentencing unnoticed-defendant |
Whether a conviction and death sentence may stand where a jury made no specific findings of fact that subjected an unnoticed individual to conviction … |
| 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… |
| 18-6110 |
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. |
| 18-5415 |
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… |
| 18-5330 |
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… |