| 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 |
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| 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 |
| 24-6884 |
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… |
| 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 … |
| 23-6677 |
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… |
| 23-5438 |
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… |
| 22-7211 |
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 |
| 22-664 |
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? |
| 22-6023 |
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, … |
| 22-5889 |
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, … |