No. 25-6509

Charles Bocock v. Illinois

Lower Court: Illinois
Docketed: 2026-01-07
Status: Pending
Type: IFP
Response WaivedIFP
Tags: criminal-conviction digital-evidence due-process forensic-attribution fourteenth-amendment substantive-proof
Key Terms:
DueProcess
Latest Conference: 2026-02-20
Question Presented (from Petition)

1 Due Process —Sufficiency of the Evidence / Digital Possession.
Whether the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause permits
affirmance of a conviction for knowing and voluntary possession of
digital contraband where the State introduced no forensic or
attribution evidence tying petitioner to the device or files and did not
establish that the images were stored on a local device under
petitioner's dominion and control —rather than displayed from an
unidentified external attachment, network device, or remote
system —and where the State's proof of petitioner's connection to the
premises and equipment was inferential and contested. See Jackson v.
Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979).

2 Due Process —Limited-Purpose Evidence Used as Substantive
Proof. Whether due process is violated when a reviewing court
sustains a conviction by treating evidence admitted only for a limited
"course of investigation" purpose as substantive proof of an element
(knowledge/voluntariness), in order to fill evidentiary gaps in the
State's proof.

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause permits affirmance of a conviction for knowing and voluntary possession of digital contraband where the State introduced no forensic or attribution evidence tying petitioner to the device or files

Docket Entries

2026-02-05
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/20/2026.
2026-02-03
Waiver of Illinois of right to respond submitted.
2026-02-03
Waiver of right of respondent Illinois to respond filed.
2025-12-23
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due February 6, 2026)

Attorneys

Charles Bocock
Charles Bocock — Petitioner
Illinois
Katherine Marie DoerschOffice of the Illinois Attorney General, Respondent