No. 20-5639

TJ Cain, aka Thomas J. Cain v. United States

Lower Court: Tenth Circuit
Docketed: 2020-09-09
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: appellate-review circuit-split criminal-procedure federal-rules federal-rules-of-criminal-procedure involuntary-confession miranda-rights plain-error pretrial-motion suppression-of-evidence
Key Terms:
CriminalProcedure
Latest Conference: 2021-01-08
Question Presented (AI Summary)

When a criminal defendant does not timely file a pretrial motion raising a claim covered by Federal-Rule-of-Criminal-Procedure-12(b)(8), is his claim reviewable for plain-error on appeal under Federal-Rule-of-Criminal-Procedure-52(b), or is it unreviewable absent good-cause under Federal-Rule-of-Criminal-Procedure-12(c)(3)

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED Petitioner TJ Cain was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. At trial, the government introduced evidence obtained as a result of police questioning conducted while Mr. Cain was outnumbered and held at gunpoint, bleeding and semi-conscious, in a remote rural area approximately twelve hours after he had been shot by a police officer. On appeal, Mr. Cain argued for the first time that this evidence should have been suppressed because his responses were plainly involuntary and his waiver of his Miranda rights was plainly invalid. The Tenth Circuit affirmed, finding that these suppression claims should have been filed before trial under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(3), and that they were therefore unreviewable under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(c)(3), in the absence of good cause. The following question is presented: When a criminal defendant does not timely file a pretrial motion raising a claim covered by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(8), is his claim reviewable for plain error on appeal under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(b), as the Fifth, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits have held, or is it unreviewable absent good cause under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(c)(3), as the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits have held? i

Docket Entries

2021-01-11
Petition DENIED.
2020-12-23
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/8/2021.
2020-12-17
Reply of petitioner TJ Cain filed.
2020-12-09
Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
2020-11-05
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including December 9, 2020.
2020-11-03
Motion to extend the time to file a response from November 9, 2020 to December 9, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
2020-10-02
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including November 9, 2020.
2020-09-30
Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 9, 2020 to November 9, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
2020-09-03
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due October 9, 2020)

Attorneys

TJ Cain
Kathleen ShenOffice of the Federal Public Defender, Districts of Colorado and Wyoming, Petitioner
Kathleen ShenOffice of the Federal Public Defender, Districts of Colorado and Wyoming, Petitioner
United States
Jeffrey B. WallActing Solicitor General, Respondent
Jeffrey B. WallActing Solicitor General, Respondent