No. 25-5267

Antonio B. Nascimento-Depina v. Massachusetts

Lower Court: Massachusetts
Docketed: 2025-08-04
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
Response WaivedIFP
Tags: appellate-review confrontation-clause due-process forensic-evidence harmless-error jury-determination
Key Terms:
AdministrativeLaw DueProcess JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2025-09-29
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether a state supreme court's harmless-error analysis violates Sixth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment protections by improperly substituting appellate court judgment for jury determination

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

Whether, after a state supreme court expressly acknowledging that admitting surrogate DNA-analyst testimony violated the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of due process, that court should not affirm a conviction on the rationale that the error was harmless because the case “turned entirely on the victim’s credibility”—a method of review that (1) conflicts with this Court’s requirement that harmless-error analysis ask whether a rational JURY, not an appellate court, could have reached a different verdict; and (2) is in this and many similar prosecutions that rely on forensic certificates.

Docket Entries

2025-10-06
Petition DENIED.
2025-08-28
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2025.
2025-08-27
Waiver of right of respondent Massachusetts to respond filed.
2025-07-29
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due September 3, 2025)

Attorneys

Antonio B. Nascimento-Depina
Brad P. BennionLaw Office of Brad Bennion, Petitioner
Brad P. BennionLaw Office of Brad Bennion, Petitioner
Massachusetts
Jennifer Kay ZalnaskyOffice of the Attorney General of Massachusetts, Respondent
Jennifer Kay ZalnaskyOffice of the Attorney General of Massachusetts, Respondent