Whether the Sixth Amendment requires a new trial when counsel fails to adequately investigate guilt-phase evidence and secure appropriate jury instructions in a capital case

No question identified. : No. In the Supreme Court of the Gnited States Donte Johnson Petitioner, v. William Gittere, et al, Respondents. Petitioner’s Application to Extend Time to File Petition for Writ of Certiorari CAPITAL CASE To the Honorable Elena Kagan, as Circuit Justice for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: Petitioner Donte Johnson respectfully requests that the time to file a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in this matter be extended for sixty (60) days, to and including February 23, 2024. The Nevada Supreme Court issued its decision in this case on June 29, 2023. See App. A. The Nevada Supreme Court denied Johnson’s timely petition for rehearing on September 26, 2023. See App. B. Petitioner’s current due date for filing a Petition for Writ of Certiorari is December 26, 2023. See Sup. Ct. R. 13.1, Sup. Ct. R. 13.3, Sup. Ct. R. 30.1.1 Petitioner is filing this Application at least ten days before that date. See Sup. Ct. R. 13.5. BACKGROUND Donte Johnson was convicted and sentenced to death in 2000. His sentence was overturned on appeal. Johnson v. State, 59 P.3d 450 (Nev. 2002). In 2005, Johnson again received a death sentence; the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed. Johnson v. State, 148 P.38d 767 (Nev. 2006). Johnson’s state postconviction petition was denied, which the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed. Johnson v. State, 402 P.3d 1266 (2017). After filing a federal postconviction petition, Johnson returned to state court to exhaust his claims. His state petition was denied, and the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed. See App. A. This appeal arises from that affirmance. REASONS FOR GRANTING THE EXTENSION The time for filing a Petition for Writ of Certiorari should be extended for sixty days for the following reasons: 1. Randolph M. Fiedler, counsel of record for Petitioner has been unable to complete the Petition for Writ of Certiorari, despite diligent efforts to do so, due to his caseload and deadlines in other capital habeas matters. Specifically, since the Nevada Supreme Court’s denial of rehearing, Mr. Fiedler has had the following deadlines: in Vanisi v. Gittere, No. (D. Nev.), a Second 190 days after September 26, 2023 is December 25, 2023, a federal holiday. See Sup. Ct. R. 30.1; 5 U.S.C. § 6103. Counsel is asking for 60-days from December 25, 2023, to February 23, 2024. Amended Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus on October 16, 2023; in Welch v. Liggett (a non-capital matter), No. 23-15200 (9th Cir.), a Reply Brief on November 3, 2023; in Moore v. Gittere, No. 2:13-cv-00655-J CM-DJA (D. Nev.), a Reply to Opposition to Motion for Evidentiary Hearing and a Reply to Opposition to Motion for Leave to Conduct Discovery on November 22, 2023. In addition to these deadlines, Mr. Fiedler has had extensive work related to a federal capital case in anticipation of filing a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 in Coonce v. United States, No. 6:20-cv-0800-BCW (W.D. Mo.). 2. As a result of these obligations, Mr. Fiedler has been unable to complete the Petition for Writ of Certiorari and will not be able to dedicate sufficient time to completing the petition until after the current deadline. Granting the instant request for a sixty-day extension of time will allow Mr. Fiedler to complete the Petition for Writ of Certiorari no later than February 23, 2024. 3. The Court has consistently held that death is different: “[t]he taking of life is irrevocable. It is in capital cases especially that the balance of conflicting interests must be weighed most heavily in favor of the procedural safeguards of the Bill of Rights.” Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1, 45-46 (1957) (on rehearing) (Frankfurter, J., concurring); see also Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 188 (1976) (Stewart, Powell, Stevens, JJ., concurring) (plurality opinion) (“the penalty of death is different in kind from any other punishment imposed under our system of criminal justice.”). Capital litigants should be given every reasonable opportunity to bring their claims of