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42 results for “Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections”

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Tags Question Presented
25-6384 Edward F. Parks v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2025-12-16 Pending None Question not identified.
25-6380 Anthony James Merrick v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2025-12-16 Pending due-process first-amendment grievance-rights judicial-decision legal-access pro-se-prisoner I. THE NINTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS DECISION CONFLICTS WITH TURNER V. SAFELY, 482 U.S. 78 AND CREATES A DOUBLE STANDARD FOR PRO-SE PRISONERS THAT DO…
25-690 Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. v. Bradley Bieganski Ninth Circuit 2025-12-12 Pending burden-shifting constitutional-law criminal-procedure due-process habeas-corpus ninth-circuit-review Did the Ninth Circuit fail to apply the correct deferential standard of review, as set out in 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), and also misapply this Court's prec…
25A670 Marzet Farris, III v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2025-12-09 Application certificate-of-appealability constitutional-right habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance post-conviction procedural-default Question not identified.
25A523 Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. v. Bradley Bieganski Ninth Circuit 2025-11-06 Application aedpa de-novo-review deferential-standard habeas-corpus ninth-circuit state-court-review Whether the Ninth Circuit improperly applied de novo review instead of the deferential standard of review required under the Antiterrorism and Effecti…
25-5613 Andres Serrato Garnica v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2025-09-11 Denied None A. v^4 <f£ Corpwi a/%A n«V CaA 0^ He^a^ 6W mu?-4j flu 4e 6We #f- M*kA <tF O'U^e^ Vtel-w v*rfe ? g -He T*\ A.oV ' /'•ft 'heF 6^ P '&M'fr(A6''>S 'IAU^W …
25-5528 Arthur L. Vitasek v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, et al. Ninth Circuit 2025-09-03 Denied arguable-claims criminal-defendant habeas-relief judicial-jurisdiction magistrate-determination ninth-circuit-procedure Under Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75 (1988), whether the Magistrate, the District Court Judge, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lost jurisdiction t…
25-5341 Kenneth Jeremy Laird v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2025-08-13 Denied constitutional-law criminal-procedure eighth-amendment juvenile-sentencing sentencing-discretion supreme-court-precedent In 1994, an Arizona judge sentenced Mr. Laird to death for a murder conviction and a total of 129 years in prison for 13 other nonhomicide crimes. Mr.…
24-7497 Michael Marion Cotham v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2025-06-25 Denied appellate-review constitutional-rights due-process faretta-right ineffective-assistance self-representation Whether the Arizona Court of Appeals' decision was 'contrary' to Faretta v. Arizona regarding termination of self-representation rights
24-7190 Danny Lee Jones v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections Ninth Circuit 2025-05-13 Dismissed cumulative-prejudice habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance sixth-amendment strickland-standard trial-counsel Whether the Sixth Amendment requires a court reviewing an ineffective assistance-of-counsel claim to consider the cumulative prejudice stemming from t…
24-6989 Darrel Eston Lee v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Ninth Circuit 2025-04-15 Denied habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance mitigation-investigation post-conviction-relief strickland-standard williams-v-taylor Did the lower federal courts violate the rule of Williams v. Taylor by attributing fault for not developing factual support of a claim in state court …
24-6884 Arthur L. Vitasek v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2025-03-28 Denied arguable-claims court-rulings criminal-procedure habeas-corpus judicial-jurisdiction legal-representation Whether the Magistrate, District Court Judge, and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lost jurisdiction after determining an arguable issue existed without…
24A834 Danny Lee Jones v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections Ninth Circuit 2025-02-28 Presumed Complete None
24-6668 Chad Alan Lee v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Ninth Circuit 2025-02-27 Denied agency-relationship federal-habeas ineffective-assistance post-conviction-relief procedural-default state-court-exhaustion Whether attorney abandonment in state PCR proceedings excuses a petitioner's failure to develop factual basis of a claim under 28 U.S.C § 2254(e)(2)
24A774 Darrel Eston Lee v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Ninth Circuit 2025-02-11 Presumed Complete conviction-challenge death-penalty federal-review habeas-corpus ninth-circuit standard-of-review Whether the Ninth Circuit applied the correct standard of review in denying a death row prisoner's habeas corpus petition challenging his conviction a…
24A625 Chad Alan Lee v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Ninth Circuit 2024-12-26 Presumed Complete certiorari death-row federal-review habeas-corpus ninth-circuit state-conviction Whether the Ninth Circuit applied the correct standard for denying a federal habeas corpus petition challenging a state criminal conviction
24A190 Chad D. Begay v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, et al. Ninth Circuit 2024-08-21 Presumed Complete certificate-of-appealability constitutional-review federal-habeas habeas-corpus ninth-circuit procedural-default Whether a state court's denial of a certificate of appealability in a post-conviction proceeding violates a criminal defendant's constitutional right …
24M2 Larry Donnell Dunlap v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2024-07-03 Presumed Complete None
23-7261 Geary Wayne Walton v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2024-04-19 Denied cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment execution mental-illness rational-understanding Whether the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits the execution of a prisoner who has a severe mental illness that …
23-7102 Jeremy Lee Koons v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Ninth Circuit 2024-03-28 Denied exclusionary-rule fourth-amendment gps-tracking law-enforcement probable-cause search-and-seizure vehicle-search warrantless-search Whether the warrantless placement of a GPS tracking device on a vehicle and the subsequent warrantless search of that vehicle violates the Fourth Amen…
23-1048 Michael Kellywood v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Ninth Circuit 2024-03-22 Denied counseling-records due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel medical-records sixth-amendment trial-counsel Whether the denial of Mr. Kellywood's writ of habeas corpus regarding ineffective representation of trial counsel when failing to sufficiently researc…
23-6677 Michael Isidoro Sanchez v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2024-02-06 Denied anders-review appeals appellate-procedure civil-rights colorable-claims due-process indigent-defense of-right-appeal post-conviction-review right-to-counsel smith-v-robbins Whether the Ninth Circuit's reliance on Chavez II was erroneous
23-6464 Michael Edward Aguilar v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2024-01-11 Denied appellate-review certificate-of-appealability constitutional-interpretation criminal-appeal criminal-code due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel sixth-amendment state-law statutory-ambiguity timeliness Whether the dismissal of a criminal appeal as untimely violates the Due Process Clause and the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counse…
23-6110 Eulandas J. Flowers v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Ninth Circuit 2023-11-27 Denied civil-rights due-process habeas habeas-corpus miller-claim miller-v-alabama postconviction-proceedings procedural-default state-court-ruling state-postconviction Whether a state court's surprise procedural-bar ruling that neither party requested is adequate to support procedural default
23-5438 Fox Joseph Salerno v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2023-08-24 Dismissed apprendi apprendi-rule blakely blakely-retroactivity certificate-of-appealability due-process jurisdiction retroactivity rule-of-finality rule-of-lenity sentencing sentencing-jurisdiction Does Apprendi decision apply to Arizona Defendants
23-5416 Curtis Benjamin Hollingsworth v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2023-08-23 Denied civil-rights constitutional-rights double-jeopardy due-process federal-jurisdiction state-action Does the federal courts have to consider States and individuals, acting in their official capacity and/or the authority of the States, do not violate …
23-5158 Martice Deshawn Wallace v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2023-07-20 Denied constitutional-law criminal-procedure due-process federal-jurisdiction fourteenth-amendment fourth-amendment habeas-corpus suppression-of-evidence witness-testimony Whether the suppression of a witness' testimony violates the defendant's due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment
22-7895 Anthony James Merrick v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2023-06-29 Denied actual-innocence certiorari-appeal civil-rights constitutional-violation due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel federal-court habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance standing Whether the trial court had a duty to put on the record a colloquy that the defendant knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to te…
22-982 Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections v. Danny Lee Jones Ninth Circuit 2023-04-10 Judgment Issued capital-case capital-punishment credibility-findings district-court district-court-deference habeas habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ninth-circuit ninth-circuit-review strickland strickland-standard Did the Ninth Circuit violate this Court's precedents by employing a flawed methodology for assessing Strickland prejudice when it disregarded the dis…
22-7211 Marco Antonio Aguilar-Medina v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2023-04-04 Denied appeals appellate-review civil-rights constitutional-law due-process federal-courts fourteenth-amendment habeas-corpus judicial-procedure statute-of-limitations Whether the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals violated Petitioner's constitutional due process rights, as protected by the Fifth Amendment, by (1) denyin…
22-7127 William Michael Meyer v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2023-03-28 Denied cruel-and-unusual-punishment eighth-amendment habeas-corpus proportionality state-court-adjudication term-of-years-sentences Whether the state court adjudicated the petitioner's Eighth Amendment claim on the merits
22-7113 Atdom Mikels Patsalis v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2023-03-27 Denied aggregate-length-of-sentences cruel-and-unusual-punishment eighth-amendment habeas-corpus proportionality term-of-years-sentences Whether a state court's express refusal to consider a petitioner's constitutional claim constitutes an adjudication on the merits under 28 U.S.C. § 22…
22-860 Chene Devonne Manley v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2023-03-09 Denied certificate-of-appealability chiari-malformation due-process fourteenth-amendment habeas-corpus newly-discovered-evidence sentencing-determination Does the Due Process Clause of the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment entitle an applicant to a certificate of appealability regarding a state prison…
22-6905 Francisco Nunez Carrillo v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2023-03-02 Denied appeal constitutional-law criminal-procedure double-jeopardy sentencing statutory-interpretation Whether the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits the district court from entering judgment on only one of the multiple counts of conviction when the jury …
22-6900 Tony Deng v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2023-03-01 Denied cell-phone-search coercion confession-voluntariness deception-tactics due-process habeas-corpus law-enforcement-interrogation reasonable-expectation-of-privacy right-to-counsel will-overborne-standard Whether the 'will overborne' standard or analysis should be used to evaluate the voluntariness of a confession obtained by trickery and deception
22-6655 Theodore Washington v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Ninth Circuit 2023-01-30 Denied criminal-procedure deference due-process fact-finding federal-court federal-habeas habeas habeas-corpus judicial-deference procedural-review state-court state-court-findings Must a federal habeas court defer to a state-court finding of fact that favors the defendant?
22-664 Stephen Edward May v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2023-01-19 Denied civil-procedure collateral-consequences federal-courts habeas-corpus jurisdiction jurisdictional-error standing subject-matter-jurisdiction unconditional-release Whether a judgment rendered after a habeas petitioner has been unconditionally released with no collateral consequences is void for lack of subject-ma…
22-6396 John Edward Sansing v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2022-12-27 Denied appellate-review clearly-established-law criminal-procedure death-penalty eighth-amendment federal-habeas mitigating-evidence mitigating-factors sentencing-procedure victim-impact Did the appellate court err in affirming the denial of Sansing's petition on this meritorious claim?
22-6027 Cedric Joseph Rue, Jr. v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Ninth Circuit 2022-11-08 Denied criminal-procedure eighth-amendment eighth-amendment-interpretation juvenile-offender juvenile-sentencing life-without-parole mandatory-sentencing parole-abolition sentencing-discretion Whether the abolition of parole in Arizona creates a mandatory life-without-parole sentence that violates the Eighth Amendment when imposed on a juven…
22-6023 Tonatihu Aguilar v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2022-11-08 Denied criminal-procedure eighth-amendment juvenile-offender juvenile-sentencing life-without-parole mandatory-sentencing miller-v-alabama parole-abolition sentencing-reform When a state abolishes its parole system, does it create a mandatory life-without-parole sentence that, when imposed on a juvenile homicide offender, …
22-5961 Richard Rojas v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Ninth Circuit 2022-11-01 Denied administrative-law civil-procedure civil-rights due-process equal-protection standing Whether the court erred in denying relief
22-5889 Michael Paul Jessup v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2022-10-24 Denied 8th-amendment constitutional-law criminal-procedure eighth-amendment juvenile-offenders juvenile-sentencing life-without-parole mandatory-sentencing parole-abolition sentencing When a state abolishes its parole system, does it create a mandatory life-without-parole sentence that, when imposed on a juvenile homicide offender, …