No. 19-7649

Socorro Susan Caro v. California

Lower Court: California
Docketed: 2020-02-12
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: aggravating-circumstances constitutional-rights criminal-sentencing death-penalty due-process fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury-beyond-reasonable-doubt jury-finding jury-trial mitigating-circumstances reasonable-doubt sentencing sixth-amendment
Key Terms:
DueProcess
Latest Conference: 2020-04-17
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Does California's death penalty scheme violate the requirement under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments that every fact, other than a prior conviction, that serves to increase the statutory maximum penalty for a crime must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED 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) the existence of one or more aggravating circumstances; (2) that aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigating circumstances; and (3) that the aggravating circumstances are so substantial that they warrant death instead of life, violate the requirement under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments that every fact, other than a prior conviction, that serves to increase the statutory maximum penalty for a crime must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

Docket Entries

2020-04-20
Petition DENIED.
2020-03-26
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/17/2020.
2020-03-12
Brief of respondent State of California in opposition filed.
2020-02-06
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due March 13, 2020)
2019-11-21
Application (19A577) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until February 7, 2020.
2019-11-18
Application (19A577) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 10, 2019 to February 7, 2020, submitted to Justice Kagan.

Attorneys

Socorro Caro
Tracy Jan Dressner — Petitioner
Tracy Jan Dressner — Petitioner
State of California
Dana Muhammad AliCalifornia Dept. of Justice, Office of the Attorne, Respondent
Dana Muhammad AliCalifornia Dept. of Justice, Office of the Attorne, Respondent