No. 24-6336

Christopher Michael Montoya v. Arizona

Lower Court: Arizona
Docketed: 2025-01-17
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: capital-case constitutional-rights due-process jury-impartiality morgan-precedent peremptory-strikes
Key Terms:
DueProcess FifthAmendment Punishment
Latest Conference: 2025-03-21
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Did the Arizona Supreme Court deprive Mr. Montoya of the right to an impartial jury and to due process of law when it affirmed the trial court's denial of his motion to strike a biased juror for cause?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

Did the Arizona Supreme Court deprive Mr. Montoya of the right to an impartial jury and to due process of law guaranteed to him under the Fifth, Sixth , and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution when it affirmed the trial court’s denial of his motion to strike a biased juror for cause, thereby misapplying Morgan v. Illinois , 504 U.S. 719 (1992) ; conflating this Court’s precedent governing elimination of death leaning jurors in Morgan and its progeny, with precedent governing elimination of life leaning jurors in Witherspoon v. Illinois , 391 U.S. 510 (1968), and its progeny; and relying upon a footnote that was abrogated by this court in Wainwright v. Witt , 469 U.S. 412 (1985) ? Does Arizona’s elimination of peremptory strikes require a more heightened standard of scrutiny in capital cases than was applied to such challenges prior to Arizona’s elimination of peremptory strikes ?

Docket Entries

2025-03-24
Petition DENIED.
2025-02-27
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/21/2025.
2025-02-27
Reply of Christopher Michael Montoya submitted.
2025-02-27
Reply of petitioner Christopher Michael Montoya filed. (Distributed)
2025-02-13
Brief of Arizona in opposition submitted.
2025-02-13
2025-01-13
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due February 18, 2025)
2024-11-06
Application (24A448) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until January 12, 2025.
2024-10-29
Application (24A448) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from November 13, 2024 to January 12, 2025, submitted to Justice Kagan.

Attorneys

Arizona
Jason Dale LewisArizona Attorney General's Office, Respondent
Jason Dale LewisArizona Attorney General's Office, Respondent
Christopher Michael Montoya
Kerri L. ChamberlinOffice of the Legal Advocate, Petitioner
Kerri L. ChamberlinOffice of the Legal Advocate, Petitioner