actus-reus
22 cases — ← All topics
| Case | Title | Lower Court | Docketed | Status | Flags | Tags | Question Presented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-5904 | Lawrence Ray v. United States | Second Circuit | 2025-10-16 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | actus-reus criminal-statute enterprise-definition knowledge-requirement rico-conspiracy sex-trafficking | 1. Whether, in a RICO conspiracy prosecution, 18 U.S.C. §1962(d), the government must prove the existence of a de facto enterprise that affects commer… |
| 25-5680 | David Petersen v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2025-09-18 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | actus-reus aiding-and-abetting circuit-split constitutional-rights mens-rea specific-intent | 1. Whether the mens rea and actus reus requirements for aiding and abetting liability under 18 U.S.C. § 2 demand proof of specific intent and affirma… |
| 24-843 | Zackary Ellis Sanders v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2025-02-07 | Denied | Response Waived | actus-reus criminal-law federal-criminal-statute purpose-requirement statutory-construction statutory-interpretation | Whether the term 'uses' in 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) should be interpreted contextually with other actus reus verbs, and whether 'for the purpose of' requir… |
| 24-5098 | Gerald Smith v. United States | District of Columbia | 2024-07-17 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (3)IFP | actus-reus crime-of-violence criminal-law mens-rea rule-of-lenity sentencing statutory-interpretation | Whether 21 U.S.C. § 848(e)(1)(A) represents a qualifying 'crime of violence' under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), and how the rule of lenity should properly be a… |
| 24-5013 | Jonathan Feliz v. United States | Second Circuit | 2024-07-08 | Denied | Relisted (2)IFP | actus-reus bodily-injury criminal-law criminal-statute elements-clause mens-rea omission physical-force use-of-force violent-crime | Whether a crime that requires proof of bodily injury or death, but can be committed by failing to take action, has as an element the use, attempted us… |
| 23-918 | Ranito Allen v. United States | Sixth Circuit | 2024-02-26 | Denied | Relisted (2) | 18-usc-924 actus-reus criminal-law federal-criminal-statute mens-rea omission-liability physical-force sentencing-enhancement statutory-interpretation violent-crime | Whether an offense that can be committed through omission or inaction can qualify as a 'crime of violence' under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(8)(A) |
| 23-5379 | Everett Charles Wills, II v. Louisiana | Louisiana | 2023-08-17 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | actus-reus counsel-concession criminal-defendant-rights criminal-procedure ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mens-rea retroactivity right-to-counsel sixth-amendment trial-strategy | When guilt is the sole issue for the jury to decide, is it permissible for counsel to unilaterally concede the essential elements (actus reus and mens… |
| 22-7045 | John Leendert Oskam v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2023-03-21 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | actus-reus bank-robbery criminal-law criminal-statute intimidation mens-rea physical-force supreme-court-precedent | Does the element of 'intimidation' in the crime of federal bank robbery under 18 U.S.C. § 2113 require the use, attempted use, or threatened use of ph… |
| 22-6681 | Shane Swindall Chambers v. Fredeane Artis, Acting Warden | Sixth Circuit | 2023-02-01 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | actus-reus constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process evidence jury-instructions mens-rea modus-operandi other-acts-evidence trial-court | Whether petitioner was deprived of due process |
| 22-5243 | Grover D. Cannon v. Louisiana | Louisiana | 2022-08-01 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | actus-reus constitutional-law criminal-procedure defense-counsel mccoy-v-louisiana mens-rea right-to-autonomy self-defense sixth-amendment | Did Louisiana's courts violate Grover D. Cannon's Sixth Amendment rights recognized in McCoy by allowing Mr. Cannon's defense counsel over Mr. Cannon'… |
| 21-1392 | Abigail Simon v. Jeremy Howard, Warden | Sixth Circuit | 2022-04-29 | Denied | Response Waived | actus-reus certiorari-review criminal-law criminal-sexual-conduct due-process jury-instructions legal-error sexual-assault standard-of-review trial-court | Whether the state trial court judge gave erroneous jury instructions on the critical actus reus element of the crime of criminal sexual conduct |
| 21-5960 | Alexander Davis v. United States | Third Circuit | 2021-10-13 | Denied | IFP | actus-reus attempt attempt-offense criminal-law criminal-statute entrapment overt-act predisposition substantial-step | Whether the requirement of a 'substantial step' can be satisfied by conduct occurring after the alleged attempt has ended |
| 21-5644 | Michael Hall v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2021-09-10 | Denied | IFP | 18-usc-924c3a actus-reus aiding-and-abetting categorical-analysis criminal-statute force-clause hobbs-act hobbs-act-robbery sentencing-enhancement violent-physical-force | Whether aiding and abetting Hobbs Act robbery does not require the use, attempted use, or threatened use of violent physical force under 18 U.S.C. § 9… |
| 21-5457 | Brian Fierro v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2021-08-24 | Denied | IFP | actus-reus circuit-interpretation criminal-law hobbs-act physical-force plain-language robbery robbery-statute statutory-construction statutory-interpretation violent-physical-force | Whether the Circuits have interpreted the actus reus of Hobbs Act robbery too narrowly and against its plain language by requiring violent physical fo… |
| 20-8275 | Paul Xavier Espinoza v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2021-06-10 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | actus-reus circuit-split criminal-law hobbs-act plain-language robbery robbery-definition statutory-interpretation violent-physical-force | Whether the Circuits have interpreted the actus reus of Hobbs Act robbery too narrowly and against its plain language by requiring violent physical fo… |
| 20-464 | James J. Rosemond v. United States | Second Circuit | 2020-10-09 | Denied | actus-reus capital-cases concession-of-guilt criminal-defendant criminal-procedure right-to-autonomy sixth-amendment trial-counsel | Does an attorney violate a criminal defendant's Sixth Amendment right to autonomy by admitting, over the defendant's objection, that the defendant ord… | |
| 20-5170 | William Russell Williams v. Michigan | Michigan | 2020-07-24 | Denied | IFP | actus-reus criminal-procedure due-process ineffective-assistance jury-instructions mens-rea mitigation mitigation-instruction prosecutorial-misconduct right-to-present-defense sentencing-guidelines | Was William Williams denied his right to due process, to present a defense, and to a properly instructed jury? |
| 19-8304 | Timothy J. McVay v. Illinois | Illinois | 2020-04-19 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | actus-reus burden-of-proof civil-rights constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder mens-rea presumption-of-innocence | Whether a bench trial conviction of first degree murder can be upheld without evidence |
| 19-6524 | Franklin Elliott Benson v. Aimee Smith, Warden | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-11-06 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | actus-reus civil-rights constitutional-rights corpus-delicti criminal-murder criminal-procedure due-process evidence ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-instructions standing venue venue-challenge | Whether the element of 'causing the death' is an essential element of malice murder in Georgia under O.C.G.A. 16-5-1(a), and whether the burden was on… |
| 19-5842 | William Sim Spencer v. Michigan | Michigan | 2019-09-06 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | actus-reus counsel-effectiveness due-process fourteenth-amendment guilty-plea ineffective-assistance-of-counsel irrebuttable-presumption sex-offender-registration sixth-amendment statute-of-limitations | Where it can be shown that the order to register as a sex offender is not limited in scope to stand on a valid guilty plea supported by the effective … |
| 18-9236 | Amy Gonzalez and David Thomas Matusiewicz v. United States | Third Circuit | 2019-05-10 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 18-usc-2261a,overbreadth,free-speech,first-amendme 6th-amendment 6th-amendment-unanimity,criminal-procedure,jury-in 6th-amendment,5th-amendment,sentencing,jury-trial, actus-reus criminal-procedure criminal-procedure,evidence,character-evidence,pre criminal-procedure,evidence,polygraph,crane-v-kent criminal-procedure,jury-instructions,causation,act criminal-verdict due-process jury-instruction jury-trial jury-unanimity sixth-amendment Whether 18 U.S.C. § 2261A is unconstitutionally ov Whether a person can be convicted for stalking res Whether Crane v. Kentucky 476 U.S. 683 690 (1986 Whether sentencing courts may continue to violate Whether the admissibility of a civil judicial opin | Whether juries must unanimously agree on the actus reus element of offenses |
| 18-8244 | Justin Keith Cornell v. Virginia | Virginia | 2019-03-04 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | actus-reus appellate-review cause-of-death circumstantial-evidence criminal-agency criminal-conviction due-process jury-standard mens-rea reasonable-doubt second-degree-murder sufficiency-of-evidence | Whether the Supreme Court of Virginia erred in applying the criteria of excluding all reasonable hypotheses of appellant's innocence, rather than the … |