judicial-fact-finding
49 cases — ← All topics
| Case | Title | Lower Court | Docketed | Status | Flags | Tags | Question Presented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-6491 | Billy J. Wilkins v. United States | Sixth Circuit | 2026-01-06 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-procedure judicial-fact-finding right-to-jury right-to-silence second-amendment sixth-circuit | I. Is the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in United States v. Williams, 113 F.4th 637 (6th Cir. 2024) unconstitutional because it allows a judge… |
| 25-5912 | David Everette v. New York | New York | 2025-10-20 | Denied | IFP | apprendi-rule criminal-procedure judicial-fact-finding persistent-felony-offender sentencing-enhancement sixth-amendment | Since deciding that the fact of a prior conviction can "authorize" a longer sentence, Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 246 (1998), th… |
| 25-5720 | Gregory Bartunek v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2025-09-24 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process judicial-fact-finding jury-trial sentencing | Whether the rights of due process and to a jury trial are violated when courts impose sentences that, but for a judge-found fact, including, but not l… |
| 24-6879 | Zachary Michael Linan v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2025-03-27 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-rights criminal-procedure fifth-amendment judicial-fact-finding sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment | 1. Did the Fifth Circuit err in affirming the district court's application of U.S.S.G. § 2A1.2(a)(1) (Second Degree Murder) rather than § 2A2.2 (Aggra… |
| 24-6306 | Willems Calixte, Jr. v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2025-01-14 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | armed-career-criminal criminal-history judicial-fact-finding sentencing-enhancement shepard-documents supreme-court-precedent | In light of Erlinger v. United States, 144 S.Ct 1840 (2024), was Petitioner Calixte properly sentenced as an armed career criminal where the district … |
| 24-6114 | Davis Ennis v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2024-12-10 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | conspiracy-statute drug-quantity judicial-fact-finding mandatory-minimum rule-of-lenity sixth-amendment | This case presents a question whether judicial fact-finding of a greater type and quantity of a controlled substance, an element of the offense, requi… |
| 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… |
| 23-7819 | LaShonda O'Neill v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2024-06-28 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | abuse-of-discretion alleyne-v-united-states drug-quantities fifth-amendment harmless-error judicial-fact-finding plain-error sentencing-enhancement sixth-amendment | 1). Whether the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals erred when it failed to employ the Plain error analysis to review, de novo, the District Court's abuse … |
| 23-5678 | Jasper Michael Wagner v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2023-10-02 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | circuit-court-interpretation constitutional-law criminal-history criminal-procedure descamps-v-united-states gall-v-united-states judicial-fact-finding sentencing sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment united-states-v-hernandez | Whether the Fifth Circuit's holding that that judicial fact-finding as to past offenses is permissible during sentencing pursuant to United States v. … |
| 23-95 | Philip Esformes v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2023-08-02 | Denied | attorney-client-privilege criminal-procedure disqualification forfeiture judicial-fact-finding prejudice prosecutorial-misconduct sixth-amendment | While investigating petitioner for alleged health-care fraud, federal prosecutors seized hundreds of petitioner's attorney-client privileged documents… | |
| 22-6450 | Dedrevionus C. Williams v. Florida | Florida | 2023-01-04 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-law constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process judicial-fact-finding jury-trial preponderance-standard sentencing sentencing-enhancement statutory-interpretation | 1. Does Florida's Statute §775.082(9) Prison Releasee Reoffender sentence violate a defendant's U.S. Constitutional rights per this Court's holdings i… |
| 22-5480 | Manuel Ralios-Chajal v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2022-08-31 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-law criminal-procedure due-process federal-sentencing judicial-fact-finding jury-trial reasonable-doubt sentencing | Whether facts that affect the minimum or maximum reasonable federal sentence must be proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt? |
| 22-5448 | Roger C. Cassidy v. Florida | Florida | 2022-08-25 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | civil-rights constitutional-law criminal-defendant due-process equal-protection judicial-fact-finding judicial-review mandatory-sentencing preponderance-of-evidence prior-conviction sentencing-exposure standing | Question 1: May a state legislature require a state court to increase a criminal defendant's sentencing exposure based on judicial fact-finding by pre… |
| 21-8076 | Siva K. Durbesula v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2022-06-07 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-rights criminal-procedure enhanced-punishment enhanced-punishments judicial-fact-finding jury sixth-amendment special-assessment speedy-trial-act supervised-release | 1) WHETHER THE SIXTH AMENDMENT REQUIRES A JURY RATHER THAN A JUDGE TO DETERMINE FACTS WHICH ARE USED TO APPLY ENHANCED PUNSIHMENTS INCLUDING THE PERIO… |
| 21-7078 | Jawan Fortia v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2022-02-09 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | circuit-split civil-rights drug-trafficking due-process interstate-commerce judicial-fact-finding racketeering rico-act taylor-v-united-states | Can the government obtain a conviction under RICO without proving that the targeted enterprise's activities actually affected interstate commerce, so … |
| 21-6570 | Bo Jack Kelley v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2021-12-13 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-law constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process federal-sentencing judicial-fact-finding jury-trial reasonable-doubt sentencing | Whether facts that affect the minimum or maximum reasonable federal sentence must be proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt? |
| 21-6289 | Norris Deshon Andrews v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2021-11-16 | Denied | IFP | armed-career-criminal-act judicial-fact-finding jury-trial jury-trial-rights predicate-crimes predicate-crimes-of-violence sentencing sixth-amendment | Whether the sentencing court violated Petitioner's Sixth Amendment jury trial rights by engaging in judicial fact-finding that two alleged assault con… |
| 21-6087 | Maria Vargas-Luna v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2021-10-26 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | advisory-guidelines criminal-law criminal-procedure drug-conspiracy fact-finding judicial-fact-finding jury-trial-right reasonable-doubt sentencing sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment | Petitioner pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. She admitted to the district court that approxima… |
| 21-5923 | Deonte Kinwan McCoy v. Michigan | Michigan | 2021-10-08 | Denied | IFP | constitutional-rights due-process fair-trial ineffective-assistance judicial-fact-finding jury-selection reasonable-doubt sufficiency-of-evidence | Was the Evidence Insufficient to convict Mr. McCoy of each offense. Should this court should reverse his convictions pursuant to federal and state con… |
| 21-5754 | Cedrin Farodd Carter v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2021-09-22 | Denied | IFP | armed-career-criminal-act criminal-procedure different-occasions judicial-fact-finding jury-fact-finding prior-conviction sentencing-enhancement sixth-amendment | Is a different-occasions finding, like other ACCA determinations about prior convictions, confined to matters essential to the fact of a prior convict… |
| 20-8330 | Ilmane Charone Campas Strong v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2021-06-16 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | commerce-clause constitutional-law criminal-law criminal-procedure due-process federal-jurisdiction firearms judicial-fact-finding mandatory-minimum sixth-amendment supervised-release | Whether 18 U.S.C. §922(g) permits conviction for the possession of any ammunition that has ever crossed state lines at any time in the indefinite past… |
| 20-8211 | Christian M. Allmendinger v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2021-06-03 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acquitted-conduct criminal-procedure due-process fifth-amendment judicial-fact-finding jury-trial reasonable-doubt sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment witte-v-united-states | 1. Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. 99, 133 S. Ct. 2151 (2013), expressly overruled Harris v. United States, 536 U.S. 545 (2002), and at least impli… |
| 20-7369 | Antonia Janai Hickmon v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2021-03-08 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-law criminal-procedure due-process federal-sentencing judicial-fact-finding jury-trial reasonable-doubt sentencing | I. Whether facts that affect the minimum or maximum reasonable federal sentence must be proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt? |
| 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… | |
| 20-6954 | Brenda Yadira Gamez-Castaneda v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2021-01-27 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | alien-smuggling criminal-procedure criminal-sentencing due-process judge-found-facts judicial-fact-finding jury-trial jury-trial-rights sentencing sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment | Petitioner pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport aliens within the United States and being found in the United States after a previous deportation… |
| 20-6837 | Jacob Ray Owens v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2021-01-12 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | criminal-procedure drug-crimes fact-finding judicial-fact-finding methamphetamine-distribution plea-agreement plea-bargaining sentencing sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment | Petitioner pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He admitted to the district court only to possession of … |
| 20-6519 | Julian Mondragon-Hernandez, aka David Rojas, et al. v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2020-12-03 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | alternative-elements conviction criminal-procedure factual-findings judicial-fact-finding judicial-review jury-instructions jury-verdict mandatory-minimum-sentences mandatory-minimums sentencing sufficiency-of-evidence | When a jury verdict allows for alternative elements of conviction, may courts review the evidence and make factual findings to uphold the conviction a… |
| 20-5770 | David A. Bridgewater v. United States | Seventh Circuit | 2020-09-23 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | apprendi-rule dismissed-conduct due-process fifth-amendment judicial-fact-finding sentencing sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment substantive-reasonableness | Whether the Fifth and Sixth Amendments prohibit a court from relying solely on dismissed conduct to impose an otherwise substantively unreasonable sen… |
| 19-8702 | Billy Edward Sedberry v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2020-06-15 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | base-offense-level criminal-procedure drug-quantity judicial-fact-finding jury-trial methamphetamine sentencing sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment | 1. Whether the district court procedurally erred in miscalculating Sedberry's drug quantity base offense level. 2. Alternatively, whether the distric… |
| 19-8088 | Antonio Rodrigues v. Massachusetts | Massachusetts | 2020-03-24 | Denied | IFP | constitutional-due-process criminal-element due-process felony-murder judicial-determination judicial-fact-finding maximum-sentence predicate-felony sentencing sufficiency-of-evidence trial-evidence | Does the Constitution prohibit a State to define a crime to include an element that is to be decided by a judge without evidence; and where the State … |
| 19-7515 | Andy Nguyen v. California | California | 2020-01-31 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | alleyne-v-united-states apprendi-rule apprendi-v-new-jersey consecutive-sentences consecutive-sentencing criminal-procedure criminal-sentencing judicial-fact-finding preponderance-of-evidence sentencing stare-decisis | Should the Court reconsider its majority opinion in Oregon v. Ice, 555 U.S. 160, 167-168, 173-177, 129 S.Ct. 711, 172 L.Ed.2d 517 (2009) (Ice) which p… |
| 19-824 | Lonnie Lee Owens v. Mike Parris, Warden | Sixth Circuit | 2019-12-31 | Denied | Response Waived | blakely-error compromise-verdict disputed-facts harmless-error judicial-fact-finding sentencing-enhancement sixth-circuit-review subjective-assessment witness-credibility | In the decade since this Court ruled in Washington v. Recuenco, 548 U.S. 212 (2006), that errors under Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296 (2004), can… |
| 19-7118 | Calvin Buffington v. United States | Seventh Circuit | 2019-12-31 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-procedure drug-quantity due-process judicial-fact-finding section-3582 section-3582(c)(2) sentence-reduction sentencing-guidelines sentencing-guidelines-3582(c)(2) statutory-interpretation | 1. Whether the district court's failure to find a drug quantity when adopting PSR in its entirety authorized it to select a new quantity as a basis f… |
| 19-6644 | Darrell Freeze v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2019-11-15 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 5th-amendment 6th-amendment criminal-procedure due-process federal-courts federal-sentencing fifth-amendment judicial-fact-finding sentencing sixth-amendment substantive-reasonableness | Whether the Fifth and Sixth Amendments permit judges to find the facts necessary to support an otherwise substantively unreasonable federal sentence. |
| 19-6049 | Lawrence T. Tyler v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2019-09-24 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | collateral-consequences coram-nobis criminal-sentencing deportation fact-finding fourth-amendment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-fact-finding jury-trial loss-amount reasonable-doubt search-and-seizure sixth-amendment | Whether a Certificate-Of-Appealability should be granted for the following Claims/Issues : 1, Whether fact of an Actual Loss Amount, which sets the m… |
| 19-5893 | Melissa Pfeiffer v. Massachusetts | Massachusetts | 2019-09-10 | Denied | IFP | conscious-disregard-for-risk criminal-law felony-murder inherent-dangerousness inherently-dangerous inherently-dangerous-felony judicial-determination judicial-fact-finding jury-instructions malice-aforethought massachusetts-law presumption-of-malice sentencing | Is it unconstitutional for the courts, as a matter of common law, to withdraw the third element of felony murder from the jury's consideration by labe… |
| 19-5630 | Roosevelt Stolden v. California | California | 2019-08-20 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | alleyne-v-united-states apprendi-rule apprendi-v-new-jersey consecutive-sentencing criminal-procedure criminal-sentencing due-process judicial-fact-finding preponderance-of-evidence sentencing sentencing-guidelines stare-decisis | Should the Court reconsider its majority opinion in Oregon v. Ice, 555 U.S. 160, 167-168, 173-177, 129 S.Ct. 711, 172 L.Ed.2d 517 (2009) (Ice) which p… |
| 19-5522 | Berson Marius v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-08-08 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-procedure due-process factual-proffer ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-conduct judicial-fact-finding plea-bargaining rule-11 | WHETHER THE DISTRICT COURT JUDGE CAN ELICITE ADDITIONAL FACTS DURING A FACTUAL PROFFER, AND WHETHER COUNSEL WAS INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL W… |
| 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 (… |
| 18-9006 | Donald Ray Boles v. United States | Second Circuit | 2019-04-26 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | appellate-review apprendi-rule apprendi-v-new-jersey constitutional-interpretation criminal-procedure criminal-sentencing due-process judicial-fact-finding judicial-precedent prior-conviction prior-convictions sentencing-enhancement sentencing-enhancements sixth-amendment | Whether the holding of Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224 (1998), which created a carve-out to the rule later adopted in Apprendi v. New… |
| 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? |
| 18-8854 | Steve Zinnel v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2019-04-16 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | bankruptcy-fraud bankruptcy-schedules constructive-amendment due-process fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment judicial-fact-finding sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment stirone-v-united-states wamu-personal-checking-account | Whether there was an unconstitutional constructive amendment or prejudicial variance that tainted all counts, caused by the confluence of the governnn… |
| 18-8763 | Terry Walker v. United States | Seventh Circuit | 2019-04-09 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-procedure due-process judicial-fact-finding jury-finding jury-trial plea-agreement plea-bargaining recharaterization sentencing sixth-amendment statutory-interpretation | 1) Can a sentencing court consistent with the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution recharaterize a defendant's conviction into conduct th… |
| 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… |
| 18-8016 | 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… |
| 18-6817 | Michael Albert Focia v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2018-11-26 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-procedure due-process judge-vs-jury judicial-fact-finding jury-instructions jury-trial obstruction-of-justice pro-se sentence-enhancement sentencing separation-of-powers sixth-amendment | Where is the second and fifth amendments to apply the statutory scheme of 18 USC § 922 (a)(1)(A) and 18 USC § 922(b) to a Non-Federal Firearm Licensee… |
| 18-6165 | Paul E. Rinehart v. Ohio | Ohio | 2018-10-02 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | apprendi-v-new-jersey criminal-procedure due-process judicial-fact-finding jury-trial sentencing-enhancement sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment trial-by-jury | Can a trial court enhance a defendant's sentence(s) to more than the minimum sentence upon judicial fact finding from a judge rather than the findings… |
| 18-5496 | Alfredo Perez, Jr. v. California | California | 2018-08-07 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | apprendi-doctrine apprendi-v-new-jersey constitutional-interpretation criminal-sentencing due-process judicial-fact-finding judicial-findings jury-trial resentencing sentencing sixth-amendment three-strikes-law | Does the federal constitution, as construed in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), permit a court charged wi… |
| 18-5258 | Howell Miller v. United States | Second Circuit | 2018-07-18 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | appellate-procedure criminal-procedure due-process en-banc-review judge-found-facts judicial-fact-finding sentencing sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment uniformity-of-decisions united-states-v-booker | WHETHER A DRASTICALLY INCREASED SENTENCE (FROM ROUGHLY 10 YEARS TO 12 YEARS) THAT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN REASONABLE BUT FOR JUDGE-FOUND FACTS VIOLATES TH… |