essential-elements

18 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
24-7349 Reymundo Arredondo v. United States Ninth Circuit 2025-06-03 Denied Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP circuit-split constructive-amendment criminal-procedure essential-elements indictment statutory-interpretation When a criminal offense can be committed in a variety of ways, does a prosecutor constructively amend an indictment by altering the essential elements…
24-7107 Brandon A. Dunkleberger v. Illinois Illinois 2025-05-01 Denied Response WaivedIFP criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements guilty-plea judicial-precedent plea-validity Is Illinois bound by this Court's rule that a guilty plea is not valid when the defendant is not informed of the essential elements of the crime?
23-5390 Neeraj Chopra v. United States Eighth Circuit 2023-08-18 Denied Response WaivedIFP constructive-amendment criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements indictment indictment-modification jury-instruction jury-instructions sexual-assault sexual-contact statutory-interpretation A jury instruction constructively amends the indictment if it modifies the essential elements of the offense charged in the indictment. Chopra's indic…
23-5031 Marc Anthony Hill v. United States Fifth Circuit 2023-07-05 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP advance-knowledge apprendi-precedent circuit-court-interpretation criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements fifth-amendment four-corner-rule jury-findings sentencing statutory-interpretation supreme-court Is Apprendi v. New Jersey still good law? If yes, are the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and other circuits applying Apprendi incorrectly which viola…
22-7731 Roy Lee Jones, Jr. v. United States Fifth Circuit 2023-06-08 Denied Response WaivedIFP burden-of-proof controlled-substances criminal-procedure drug-conspiracy due-process essential-elements evidence fifth-circuit-precedent jury-instructions sentencing sentencing-issue standard-of-proof In addressing Roy Lee Jones, Jr.'s claim that the evidence in this methampethamine prosecution supported only a conviction for conspiracy to possess w…
22-5472 Aaron Michael Shamo v. United States Tenth Circuit 2022-08-30 Denied Response WaivedIFP anti-drug-abuse-act chemical-compound chemical-compounds controlled-substance counsel-waiver cruel-and-unusual-punishment drug-distribution drug-sentencing eighth-amendment essential-elements fentanyl statutory-interpretation In 1986, Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which provided for a mandatory life without parole sentence for drug offenders who distributed very …
21-5286 Gerald M. Calmese v. Arizona Arizona 2021-08-04 Denied IFP conviction criminal-indictment double-jeopardy due-process essential-elements fraudulent-schemes indictment legal-sufficiency multiplicity sentencing-error Is there legally sufficient evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt the required element for fraudulent schemes for which the petitioner was c…
21-5151 Kenan Ivery v. Ohio Ohio 2021-07-21 Denied IFP aggravated-murder criminal-conviction due-process essential-elements insufficient-evidence jury-removal murder reasonable-doubt trial-procedure IS A PETITIONER DENIED DUE PROCESS OF LAW WHEN HE IS CONVICTED FOR OFFENSES OF WHICH THERE WAS INSUFFICENT EVIDENCE PRESENTED AT TRIAL TO HAVE FOUND H…
20-7899 Christopher Middleton v. Georgia Georgia 2021-04-30 Denied Response WaivedIFP criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements harmless-error indictment-sufficiency jury-disbelief self-defense standard-of-review sufficiency-of-evidence Whether a finding of guilt can be predicated on the jury's disbelief of a defendant's statements where the defendant does not testify and the State fa…
20-7761 Andrew Indelicato Peterson v. S. Butler, Warden Sixth Circuit 2021-04-14 Denied IFP conviction-challenge criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements evidence-admissibility felon-in-possession knowledge-of-status plea-agreement prior-conviction prior-misconduct sentencing statutory-interpretation Can the distriet Court Use Post offenic conduct for crimes that a defendant never Served Overa Year in Prison to assume ai defendant knew his status P…
20-6610 Luis Sanabria-Robreno v. United States Third Circuit 2020-12-11 Denied Relisted (2)IFP 18-usc-922g constitutional-validity criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements firearm-possession guilty-plea plea-bargaining rehaif-v-united-states When defendant s plead guilty, this Court's precedent —consistent with due process —require s that they understand the offense's essential elements. I…
20-5499 Savannah Rolle v. United States Eleventh Circuit 2020-08-26 Denied Relisted (3)IFP criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements guilty-plea plea-bargaining rehaif-precedent rehaif-v-united-states vacatur Whether a defendant's guilty plea entered before Rehaif v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2020), in which the defendant was not advised of the essent…
19-8456 Thomas Hopes v. United States Third Circuit 2020-05-14 Denied Response WaivedIFP circuit-split essential-elements evidence-standard federal-rules-of-evidence helpfulness law-enforcement-witnesses lay-opinion-testimony personal-perception rule-701 usurping-jury-role The Third Circuit panel majority, deepening a mature circuit split regarding the foundational requirements of Federal Rule of Evidence 701, ruled that…
19-7273 Pablo Rodriguez-Palomino v. Illinois Illinois 2020-01-15 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-review burden-of-proof criminal-procedure criminal-sexual-assault due-process essential-elements fourteenth-amendment jackson-v-virginia rational-trier-of-fact reasonable-doubt standard-of-review state-evidence sufficiency-of-evidence Whether evidence that is insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant is guilty of crimes, and inadequate when judged under the st…
19-7251 William McNeal v. Florida Florida 2020-01-10 Denied Response WaivedIFP Apprendi apprendi-standard apprendi-v-new-jersey criminal-law criminal-procedure degree-classification due-process essential-element essential-elements jury-trial reclassification sentencing sentencing-enhancement statutory-interpretation Whether, when determining if a defendant's offense can be reclassified to the next highest degree, Florida's interpretation of "essential element" as …
19-5252 Jonathan Thomas Wright v. West Virginia West Virginia 2019-07-19 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP arraignment criminal-complaint de-novo-appeal essential-elements hearsay-doctrine oath personal-knowledge physical-evidence police-officer I. Whether it is a violation of the Hearsay Doctrine for one police officer coming on duty who has no personal knowledge of the events which occurred …
18-8773 Emmanuely Germain v. United States Eleventh Circuit 2019-04-10 Denied IFP criminal-procedure criminal-procedure-error essential-elements harmless-error jurisdiction jury-instructions statutory-interpretation sufficiency-of-evidence uncharged-offense venue venue-error 1. Is the error of omission of an essential element of an offense from jury instructions rendered harmless by the sufficiency of evidence to support a…
18-5115 Stanley Lee Hayward v. United States Eleventh Circuit 2018-07-05 Denied Response WaivedIFP aggravated-assault crime-of-violence due-process equal-protection essential-elements habeas-corpus sentencing-guidelines statute WHETHER THE LOWER TRIBUNAL ABUSED IT'S DISCRETION IN DENYING PETITIONER THE RIGHT F TO DUE PROCESS EQUAL PROTECTION OF LAW IN HOLDING THAT HIS PRIOR 1…