No. 19-5723

Melvin Bernard Thompson v. Mark S. Inch, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections

Lower Court: Eleventh Circuit
Docketed: 2019-08-28
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: Almendarez-Torres Apprendi-v-New-Jersey criminal-procedure criminal-sentencing due-process fourteenth-amendment habeas-corpus judicial-discretion sentencing sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment stare-decisis
Key Terms:
DueProcess HabeasCorpus
Latest Conference: 2019-11-01
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Can a Florida Law permit a judicial discretion-upward-departure sentence beyond sentencing-guidelines without violating Sixth-Amendment Fourteenth-Amendment

Question Presented (from Petition)

QUESTION(S) PRESENTED 1. Can a Florida Law permit a trial court to exercise judicial discretion to make . new findings of fact of an escalating pattern of criminal conduct by the preponderance of the evidence standard of proof to impose an upward departure sentence beyond the sentencing guideline permitted range without violating a criminal defendant’s Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment Constitutional Rights. 2. Has this Court’s Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence announced in its Apprendi v. New Jersey line of cases over the last two decades, effectively eroded the underpinnings of Almendarez-Torres, 118 S. Ct. 1219 (1998), Stare Decisis vitality, and viability, rendering the fact of a prior conviction an element of , the offense that must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt standard of proof? 3. Did the United States District Court of Florida and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals improperly apply the Ritcher presumption to Mr. Thompson’s Habeas Claims of constitutional violations; when those courts failed to look through the appellate decision to the last reasoned opinion to the state post conviction court, to make a determination de novo whether Mr. Thompson constitutional claims were properly adjudicated on the merits.

Docket Entries

2019-11-04
Petition DENIED.
2019-10-10
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/1/2019.
2019-08-15
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due September 27, 2019)
2019-06-20
Application (18A1331) granted by Justice Thomas extending the time to file until August 24, 2019.
2019-06-07
Application (18A1331) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from June 25, 2019 to August 24, 2019, submitted to Justice Thomas.

Attorneys

Melvin Thompson
Melvin B. Thompson — Petitioner
Melvin B. Thompson — Petitioner