capital-punishment

341 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25A821 Taylor Rene Parker v. Texas Texas 2026-01-16 Application capital-punishment criminal-culpability death-penalty eighth-amendment intellectual-disability mental-capacity Question not identified.
25-6315 Jasper Phillip Rushing v. Arizona Arizona 2025-12-08 Pending IFP capital-punishment constitutional-claim due-process fundamental-error preservation-doctrine shackling 1. Did the Arizona Supreme Court err in concluding that Mr. Rushing failed to preserve below? 2. If the claim was unpreserved, did the unjustified vi…
25-6279 Steven Matthew Wolf v. Florida Florida 2025-12-03 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty fourteenth-amendment juror-bias jury-selection sixth-amendment Whether Mr. Wolf was deprived of a jury of his peers as guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments where the trial court removed a juror who pr…
25A576 John Bejarano v. William Reubart, Warden Ninth Circuit 2025-11-17 Application capital-punishment federal-review habeas-corpus procedural-default state-procedure successive-petition Whether a state's procedural default bar for successive state petitions in capital habeas cases constitutes an inadequate state procedural mechanism t…
25-5997 Tremane Wood v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2025-10-30 Denied Amici (4)IFP brady-violation capital-punishment judicial-bias napue-violation prosecutorial-misconduct witness-testimony 1. Should this Court, after independently reviewing the factual record, grant Mr. Wood a new trial based on the Napue violation at his trial, as it di…
25-5926 Anthony Boyd v. Kay Ivey, Governor of Alabama Eleventh Circuit 2025-10-21 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process judicial-procedure pro-se-representation separation-of-powers 1. Whether the Eleventh Circuit erred barring a condemned inmate from filing pro se while represented elsewhere in violation of the federal right of a…
25-5865 Aaron Norman Dunn v. California California 2025-10-10 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure due-process fourteenth-amendment payne-v-tennessee victim-impact-evidence Whether under Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808 (1991), a prosecutor can be permitted to play for the jury during the penalty phase of a capital trial …
25-5784 Daniel Raul Santiago Vasquez v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2025-10-02 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure due-process eighth-amendment mitigation-testimony videoconference-testimony 1. Does the Eighth Amendment allow the State to prevent live mitigation testimony in favor of a capital defendant based upon financial reasons alone (…
25-5738 Mark H. Wilson v. Florida Florida 2025-09-25 Denied IFP appellate-review brown-v-sanders capital-punishment eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment harmless-error Where the trial court in a capital case allows the State to present and argue an invalid aggravating factor to the jury in support of a death sentence…
25-5605 David Joseph Pittman v. Florida Florida 2025-09-11 Denied IFP capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection ex-post-facto retroactive-effect 1. Does the Florida Supreme Court's decision in Phillips v. State , 299 So.3d 1013 (Fla. 2020) , denying some capital defendants the retroactive effec…
25-5532 James Randall Rogers v. Georgia Georgia 2025-09-03 Denied Relisted (2)IFP bitemark-evidence capital-punishment discretionary-appeal eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment scientific-evidence 1. Whether the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments require a remand where the State has conceded that no court ever addressed the impact of Rogers's new …
25A185 Kayle B. Bates v. Florida, et al. Florida 2025-08-14 Denied capital-punishment constitutional-protection cruel-and-unusual death-penalty eighth-amendment irreparable-harm Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of a death row inmate when the state supreme court has denied constitutional protections that saf…
25A28 Mica Alexander Martinez v. Christe Quick, Warden Tenth Circuit 2025-07-08 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-error death-penalty eighth-amendment execution-protocol habeas-corpus Whether the Eighth Amendment permits the imposition and execution of a death sentence in light of systemic delays and potential constitutional errors …
24-7483 DeAngelo Zieglar v. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 2025-06-24 Denied Response WaivedIFP caldwell-precedent capital-punishment constitutional-procedure death-penalty jury-selection moratorium-impact In light of Caldwell v. Mississippi, 472 U.S. 320 (1985), where a state has instituted an indefinite and formal moratorium on the death penalty, wheth…
24-7473 Obel Cruz-Garcia v. Eric Guerrero, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2025-06-20 Denied IFP capital-punishment circuit-precedent external-influence habeas-corpus jury-deliberations religious-text Whether a jury foreman's introduction of a religious text during capital murder trial deliberations constitutes an improper external influence warrant…
24A1198 James Randall Rogers v. Georgia Georgia 2025-06-05 Presumed Complete bitemark-evidence capital-punishment constitutional-due-process death-penalty new-trial recantation Whether the recantation of bitemark evidence used to convict a death row inmate warrants a new trial under federal constitutional due process standard…
24-7351 Terry Pitchford v. Burl Cain, Commissioner, Mississippi Department of Corrections, et al. Fifth Circuit 2025-06-03 Granted Amici (10)Relisted (8)IFP batson-challenge capital-punishment equal-protection habeas-corpus peremptory-strikes racial-discrimination Does clearly established federal law require reversal of a state appellate court's denial of relief from a capital prosecutor's discriminatory exercis…
24-7346 Seaga Edward Gillard v. North Carolina North Carolina 2025-06-03 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-sentencing death-penalty felony-murder jury-instructions supreme-court-precedent Whether the Supreme Court of North Carolina violated Supreme Court precedent regarding jury instructions for death sentences in felony murder cases in…
24A1150 Stephen Corey Bryant v. Joel Anderson, Acting Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. Fourth Circuit 2025-05-27 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty fourth-circuit habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance Whether the Fourth Circuit's denial of a death-sentenced prisoner's appeal violates his constitutional rights to effective assistance of counsel or du…
24-7169 Glen Edward Rogers v. Florida Florida 2025-05-09 Denied IFP capital-punishment due-process fourteenth-amendment lethal-injection post-conviction procedural-rules Whether Florida's successive pleading requirements under Rule 3.851(d) violate a capital defendant's due process rights in a post-warrant context and …
24-7151 Zane Michael Floyd v. Jeremy Bean, Warden, et al. Nevada 2025-05-06 Denied IFP atkins-ruling capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment eighth-amendment intellectual-disability medical-consensus Whether a state may constitutionally execute a defendant who meets the strict medical standard for severe brain damage caused by fetal alcohol exposur…
24-6942 John Sexton v. Florida Florida 2025-04-08 Denied IFP capital-punishment court-witness harmless-error mitigation-specialist sixth-amendment structural-error Did the state trial court commit structural error by violating the Defendant's Sixth Amendment-secured right to autonomy in his capital penalty procee…
24-6933 Mikal Mahdi v. Bryan Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections South Carolina 2025-04-08 Denied IFP capital-punishment childhood-trauma death-penalty ineffective-assistance mitigating-evidence sixth-amendment Whether a capital defendant's Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel is violated when trial counsel fails to fully investigate and p…
24-6841 Micah Brown v. Eric Guerrero, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2025-03-25 Dismissed IFP capital-punishment defendant-rights fifth-amendment jury-instructions penalty-phase prosecutorial-misconduct Whether a prosecutor violates a capital defendant's Fifth Amendment right by repeatedly telling the jury that the defendant deserved no mercy for not …
24A274 Marcellus Williams v. Missouri, ex rel. Michael L. Parson, Governor of Missouri, et al. Missouri 2025-03-18 Denied actual-innocence capital-punishment clemency death-penalty eighth-amendment post-conviction-relief Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of a death row inmate who has presented substantial new evidence of actual innocence after his or…
24-6420 Stephen C. Stanko v. Bryan P. Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. Fourth Circuit 2025-01-29 Denied IFP capital-punishment expert-services habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel traumatic-brain-injury waiver-of-counsel Does 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A) require a certificate of appealability for review of an order prematurely granting summary judgment against a habeas pe…
24A675 Jermaine Alexander Foster v. Florida Florida 2025-01-10 Presumed Complete capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment intellectual-disability postconviction-relief supreme-court-review Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of a death-sentenced inmate with an intellectual disability claim that was rejected by the Florid…
24A637 Davone Unique Anderson v. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 2024-12-30 Presumed Complete capital-punishment criminal-culpability death-penalty eighth-amendment intellectual-disability supreme-court-review Whether the Eighth Amendment permits the imposition of a death sentence where the defendant's intellectual disability substantially impairs his capaci…
24-6164 Tahina Corcoran, as next friend on behalf of Joseph E. Corcoran v. Ron Neal, Warden Seventh Circuit 2024-12-17 Denied IFP capital-punishment due-process execution-standards incompetency-claim mental-competency state-court-review May a state court dispose of an evidentiarily-supported incompetency to be executed claim under Ford v. Wainwright and Panetti v. Quarterman despite f…
24A538 Anthony Medina v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2024-12-03 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-claims habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance sixth-amendment strickland-standard Whether the Sixth Amendment requires a new trial when a defendant demonstrates ineffective assistance of counsel that potentially prejudiced the outco…
24-5906 John Esposito v. Shawn Emmons, Warden Georgia 2024-11-04 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-review due-process habeas-corpus judicial-fact-finding jury-misconduct Does the Due Process Clause require a more rigorous standard of review for judicial fact-finding beyond Georgia's 'any evidence' standard?
24A411 Donald Sherman v. William Gittere, Warden, et al. Ninth Circuit 2024-10-28 Presumed Complete capital-punishment eighth-amendment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ninth-circuit writ-of-certiorari Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of a capital defendant whose underlying conviction or sentence may have been tainted by ineffecti…
24-5753 Robert Leslie Roberson III v. Texas Texas 2024-10-15 Denied IFP actual-innocence capital-punishment due-process habeas-corpus procedural-bar scientific-evidence Whether the TCCA's unexplained application of a procedural bar violates the federal due process clause when a capital state habeas applicant asserts a…
24-5725 Jose G. Barajas Gomez v. Daniel W. White, Superintendent, Monroe Correctional Complex Ninth Circuit 2024-10-08 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure ineffective-assistance mitigating-evidence sentencing-phase sixth-amendment Whether the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel is violated when counsel fails to investigate or present mitigating evidence duri…
24-5612 Prosecuting Attorney, 21st Judicial Circuit, ex rel. Marcellus Williams v. Missouri Missouri 2024-09-23 Denied Amici (1)IFP capital-punishment constitutional-error due-process jury-selection prosecutorial-misconduct racial-discrimination Whether due process requires reversal when a prosecutor concedes constitutional errors in a capital conviction and no longer seeks to defend the case
24-5561 Marcellus Williams v. Missouri, ex rel. Michael L. Parson, Governor of Missouri, et al. Missouri 2024-09-18 Denied IFP capital-punishment clemency-proceedings constitutional-rights due-process executive-discretion state-procedure Whether the State of Missouri will deprive Williams of his life without due process by executing him after initiating and then terminating a special c…
24-5439 Richard Beasley v. Ohio Ohio 2024-09-04 Denied IFP appellate-procedure capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process fifth-amendment sixth-amendment Whether a criminal defendant's due process rights are violated when a state supreme court dismisses a capital appeal and fails to appoint replacement …
24A185 Derek Don Posey v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2024-08-19 Presumed Complete capital-punishment eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury-selection sentencing-procedure sixth-amendment Whether the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments were violated by the improper dismissal of prospective jurors and whether the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendm…
24A159 LeGregory Davis v. Louisiana Louisiana 2024-08-09 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-violation death-penalty eighth-amendment lethal-injection procedural-due-process Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of a death row inmate based on claims of procedural irregularities or constitutional violations i…
24-5266 Darrell Gunn v. New York New York 2024-08-07 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process guilty-plea ineffective-assistance mental-illness Whether capital defense counsel's failure to present mitigating evidence of mental illness constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel and violates …
24A132 Kyle Trevor Flack v. Kansas Kansas 2024-08-06 Presumed Complete capital-punishment eighth-amendment kansas-supreme-court mitigating-factors murder sentencing Whether the Eighth Amendment permits the imposition of a capital sentence under circumstances involving multiple murder victims and potential mitigati…
24-5221 Arthur Lee Burton v. Texas Texas 2024-08-04 Denied IFP atkins-claim atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment death-penalty diagnostic-criteria hall-v-florida intellectual-disability moore-v-texas-i moore-v-texas-ii procedural-review supreme-court-precedent Whether the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals' refusal to authorize plenary review of an unrebutted prima facie case of intellectual disability rendered…
24-5163 Thomas Leo Springs v. Dexter Payne, Director, Arkansas Division of Correction Eighth Circuit 2024-07-29 Denied Relisted (2)IFP aedpa-deference capital-punishment habeas-corpus habeas-corpus-review impeachment-evidence ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel reasoned-state-court-opinion state-court-review strickland-prejudice strickland-standard Whether a federal court applying AEDPA deference to a reasoned state court opinion may ignore the explanation provided by the state court and instead …
24-5083 Stephen B. Wlodarz v. Mike Parris, Warden Sixth Circuit 2024-07-16 Denied Response WaivedIFP actual-innocence capital-punishment constitutional-claim due-process factual-innocence habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel pro-se-petition statute-of-limitations trial-by-jury Whether prosecutors and Petitioner's pretrial sheriff's department Custodians violation of a Scheduled trial by jury, which in all likelihood may have…
23-7791 Ramiro F. Gonzales v. Texas Texas 2024-06-24 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-punishment-eligibility death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment future-dangerousness jury-determination post-conviction-review Can a state refuse to recognize challenges to the accuracy of a jury's determination of 'future dangerousness' as cognizable grounds for postconvictio…
23-7792 In Re Ramiro Felix Gonzales 2024-06-24 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-review death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment future-dangerousness post-conviction-review state-law Does it violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to execute an individual who does not meet the eligibility criteria for a sentence of death under…
23-7765 Leon Davis, Jr. v. Florida, et al. Florida 2024-06-20 Denied IFP capital-punishment cumulative-error death-penalty ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-selection prosecutorial-discretion strickland-prejudice strickland-standard Counsel's-failure-to-object-to-trial-court's-comments-during-jury-selection
23-7736 Clarence Mack v. Margaret Bradshaw, Warden Sixth Circuit 2024-06-17 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254d2 brady-napue-claims brady-violation capital-punishment capital-trial habeas-corpus informant-testimony informant-witness napue-violation prosecutor-deal prosecutorial-misconduct unreasonable-determination When the existence of at least an informal, tacit, or unspoken deal between the prosecutor and his star informant-witness in a capital trial is self-e…
23A1118 Darryl Scott Stinski v. Warden, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison Eleventh Circuit 2024-06-17 Presumed Complete aedpa capital-punishment federal-review habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance state-court-deference Whether, under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), a federal court must apply double deference under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1) and…
23-7590 Jamie Mills v. John Q. Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2024-05-29 Denied IFP brady-violation capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability due-process false-testimony habeas-corpus miller-el-standard plea-agreement prosecutorial-misconduct rule-60-motion Where reasonable jurists could debate whether a petitioner is entitled to Rule 60 relief where the State has concealed evidence
23-7577 Chuong Duong Tong v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2024-05-28 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment due-process good-cause ineffective-assistance post-conviction-relief postconviction-counsel potentially-meritorious rhines-standard rhines-v-weber voir-dire Did the Court of Appeals err in holding that ineffective assistance of postconviction counsel cannot establish 'good cause' under Rhines v. Weber? And…
23A999 Thomas E. Creech v. Tim Richardson, Warden Ninth Circuit 2024-05-09 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-challenge death-penalty eighth-amendment habeas-corpus judge-sentencing Whether judge-sentencing in death-penalty trials violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment
23-7391 Markeith D. Loyd v. Florida Florida 2024-05-06 Denied Relisted (2)IFP capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment individual-responsibility jury-instructions sentencing-phase Where the court in a capital case allows the State to argue that the jury should, or must, try its best to reach a unanimous penalty phase verdict, is…
23-7364 Jorge Galindo v. Nebraska Nebraska 2024-05-02 Denied Relisted (2)IFP capital-punishment death-penalty eddings-v-oklahoma ineffective-assistance lockett-v-ohio mitigation sentencing-considerations supreme-court-precedent tennard-v-dretke youth youth-mitigation May a state categorically exclude youth as a mitigating factor in a capital case?
23-7322 Gabriel Paul Hall v. Texas Texas 2024-04-26 Denied IFP attorney-conduct capital-appointments capital-punishment due-process fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel pecuniary-incentive sixth-amendment state-statute Whether a state statute that makes an attorney ineligible for future capital appointments if found to be ineffective creates a pecuniary incentive for…
23-7274 In Re Joseph T. Swift 2024-04-19 Denied IFP appeal capital-punishment civil-rights death-penalty due-process ineffective-assistance-of-counsel Whether the Florida Supreme Court's denial of petitioner's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and due process violations in his capital murde…
23-7153 Brian J. Dorsey v. David Vandergriff, Warden Missouri 2024-04-07 Denied IFP capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-row deterrence eighth-amendment penological-goals rehabilitation retribution When a death-sentenced person has demonstrated that he has been rehabilitated, does the Eighth Amendment prohibit his execution because the penologica…
23A890 Brian J. Dorsey v. David Vandergriff, Warden Missouri 2024-04-07 Denied capital-punishment certiorari-standard death-penalty eighth-amendment penological-goals rehabilitation Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of a death-sentenced individual who has demonstrated full rehabilitation and for whom the penolog…
23-7091 Brandon De McCall v. Texas Texas 2024-03-28 Denied IFP 8th-amendment capital-punishment culpability due-process eighth-amendment jury-instruction jury-instructions mitigating-evidence moral-blameworthiness Whether the 'moral blameworthiness' jury instruction prevented the consideration of constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence
23-7085 Isaiah Glenndell Tryon v. Christe Quick, Warden Tenth Circuit 2024-03-27 Denied IFP atkins-claim atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment flynn-effect habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel intellectual-disability post-conviction-relief procedural-default Where a state habeas court considers the merits of a defaulted counsel claim to decide whether statutorily required post-conviction counsel was ineffe…
23-7042 Willie James Pye v. Shawn Emmons, Warden Georgia 2024-03-20 Denied IFP atkins-standard atkins-v-virginia burden-of-proof capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment intellectual-disability Can the State under Atkins v. Virginia execute a person who is intellectually disabled by all clinical standards?
23-7029 Byron James Shepard v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2024-03-19 Denied IFP aggravating-circumstance aggravating-factors capital-punishment capital-sentencing criminal-procedure death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury-discretion Does Oklahoma's continuing threat aggravating circumstance violate this Court's capital sentencing jurisprudence and the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendme…
23-1004 Moises Sandoval Mendoza v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2024-03-13 Denied capital-punishment capital-sentencing due-process federal-court fifth-circuit habeas habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance merits-adjudication section-2254 state-court Whether a federal claim is 'adjudicated on the merits' in state court under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)
23-6964 Harvey Cantrell v. Department of Veterans Affairs Seventh Circuit 2024-03-12 Denied Response WaivedIFP 8th-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights competency due-process mental-illness Whether the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits the execution of a prisoner who has a severe mental illness that …
23-6888 Darrell Wayne Frederick v. Christe Quick, Warden Tenth Circuit 2024-03-04 Denied IFP aspd brain-damage capital-punishment capital-sentencing ineffective-assistance-counsel ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation-evidence prejudice prejudice-review strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether the Tenth Circuit contravened Strickland v. Washington by not considering the totality of the mitigating evidence in its prejudice review
23A796 Leslie Galloway, III v. Mississippi Mississippi 2024-02-28 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-rights ineffective-assistance mitigation-investigation penalty-phase sixth-amendment Whether the Sixth Amendment requires reversal of a capital conviction where trial counsel provided constitutionally ineffective assistance by failing …
23-934 Areli Escobar v. Texas Texas 2024-02-27 Denied Amici (4)Relisted (4) capital-murder capital-punishment criminal-conviction dna-evidence due-process false-evidence habeas-corpus jury-verdict misleading-evidence prosecutorial-misconduct unreliable-evidence Whether due process requires reversal of a capital conviction infected with errors the State no longer defends
23-6791 Thomas Eugene Creech v. Idaho Idaho 2024-02-21 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment evolving-standards judicial-sentencing post-conviction state-court Whether it comports with due process for a state court to reject as untimely an evolving-standards claim on a theory that would never allow for such a…
23-6703 Christopher Collings v. David Vandergriff, Warden Eighth Circuit 2024-02-08 Denied IFP appeals capital-case capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability civil-procedure due-process eighth-circuit exhaustion-doctrine habeas-corpus rhines-stay Is a COA required to appeal a district court's denial of a motion for stay of the habeas proceedings
23-6469 Eric Kimble v. Chance Andes, Acting Warden Ninth Circuit 2024-01-11 Denied IFP capital-habeas capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance mental-health mitigating-evidence ninth-circuit-review prior-conviction rehabilitation strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether trial counsel's failure to conduct any investigation or seek any expert assistance, including mental health expertise, at Kimble's 1981 death …
23-6415 Christian Cruz v. Florida Florida 2024-01-05 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment criminal-procedure death-penalty due-process equal-protection first-degree-murder pulley-v-harris relative-culpability sentencing supreme-court-review Whether the affirmance by the Supreme Court of the State of Florida of defendant's conviction for first degree murder and sentence of death was clearl…
23A564 Donte Johnson v. Nevada Nevada 2023-12-19 Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-error ineffective-assistance jury-instructions procedural-safeguards sixth-amendment Whether the Sixth Amendment requires a new trial when counsel fails to adequately investigate guilt-phase evidence and secure appropriate jury instruc…
23-639 Thomas Dale Ferguson v. John Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2023-12-13 Denied adaptive-functioning capital-punishment circuit-split eighth-amendment intellectual-disability iq-test iq-testing moore-v-texas Whether a court may disregard a valid IQ test with a range under 70 simply because not all tests show such a range, or must proceed to evaluate adapti…
23A472 Travis Dwight Green v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2023-11-27 Presumed Complete capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-counsel mental-illness procedural-default schizophrenia Whether a defendant's severe mental illness and state habeas counsel's abandonment can constitute cause to excuse procedural default in a capital case…
23-6078 Timothy Ray Jones, Jr. v. South Carolina South Carolina 2023-11-21 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing due-process eighth-amendment insanity-defense jury jury-instructions not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity voir-dire Whether the Due Process Clause and the Eighth Amendment require that a jury, as the sentencer in a capital case, be told the truth about the effect of…
23A436 Guillermo Octavio Arbelaez v. Florida, et al. Florida 2023-11-15 Presumed Complete capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment postconviction-relief sixth-amendment Whether the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit the imposition of a death sentence that fails to comply with evolving standards of decen…
23A440 David Santiago Renteria v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, et al. Fifth Circuit 2023-11-15 Denied capital-punishment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment judicial-review prosecutorial-discretion removal-statute Whether the Equal Protection Clause permits disparate treatment of capital defendants by state prosecutors in seeking execution dates without a meanin…
23-6008 Matthew Johnson v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2023-11-14 Denied IFP capital-punishment district-court-discretion docket-control due-process equal-protection federal-courts habeas-corpus statute-of-limitations statutory-limitations Does 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d) require a federal district court to allow the full 1-year period for habeas applications?
23-471 Casey A. McWhorter v. Alabama Alabama 2023-11-03 Denied 8th-amendment age-discrimination capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection jury-selection juvenile-justice Does Alabama's exclusion of 18-year-olds from jury service, coupled with its permitting them to be tried as adults, deny 18-year-old defendants their …
23-5890 Jerry Smith v. Alabama Alabama 2023-10-26 Denied IFP ake-v-oklahoma capital-punishment capital-trials due-process fourteenth-amendment indigent-defendants indigent-defense jury-selection mitigation-experts racial-discrimination Whether Ake v. Oklahoma and the Fourteenth Amendment's due process guarantee require courts to provide funds for prison mitigation experts to indigent…
23A312 Thomas Dale Ferguson v. John Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2023-10-10 Presumed Complete atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment ineffective-assistance-of-counsel intellectual-disability jury-recommendation strickland-v-washington Whether a single raw IQ score above 70, regardless of when administered, is independently sufficient to deny a capital defendant's Atkins claim, and w…
23-5667 Michael Duane Zack v. Ron Desantis, Governor of Florida, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2023-09-28 Denied IFP capital-defendant capital-punishment clemency clemency-proceedings due-process executive-discretion meaningful-access notice notice-requirements procedural-fairness unenforceable-rules Whether the right to minimal Due Process required in clemency proceedings is satisfied
23-5653 Michael Duane Zack, III v. Florida Florida 2023-09-26 Denied IFP atkins-exemption atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment eighth-amendment fetal-alcohol-syndrome fourteenth-amendment intellectual-developmental-disorder medical-consensus witherspoon-v-illinois Does the Eighth or Fourteenth Amendment bar the execution of a defendant with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome who was not sentenced to death by a unanimous jur…
23-5617 Anthony Castillo Sanchez v. Christe Quick, Warden Tenth Circuit 2023-09-20 Denied IFP abandoned-clients attorney-abandonment capital-punishment civil-procedure court-procedure dilatory-removal district-court habeas-corpus judicial-discretion procedural-delay stay-of-execution Whether a District Court can deny a stay of execution when it has been dilatory in removing attorneys who abandoned their clients until a month before…
23-5620 Margaret A. Allen v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2023-09-20 Denied IFP capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability constitutional-rights due-process evidence ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation sixth-amendment strickland-v-washington Whether the Eleventh Circuit flouted this Court's relevant decisions and precedent by declining to even grant a certificate of appealability regarding…
23-5553 Randy Haight v. Scott Jordan, Warden Sixth Circuit 2023-09-12 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment due-process evidentiary-hearing expert-testimony habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mental-health mental-retardation statutory-interpretation How to reconcile 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2) and 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1) in capital cases
23A233 Jerry Smith v. Alabama Alabama 2023-09-12 Presumed Complete appellate-review capital-punishment constitutional-review death-penalty habeas-corpus penalty-phase Whether the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals properly applied constitutional standards in affirming a capital conviction and death sentence after mul…
23-5421 Brent Ray Brewer v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2023-08-23 Denied IFP capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability constitutional-claim future-dangerousness habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel state-court-review strickland-v-washington whether-contradictory-state-federal-court-rulings-demonstrate-debatability-of-constitutional-claim
23-167 John Q. Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections v. Joseph Clifton Smith Eleventh Circuit 2023-08-21 GVR Amici (1)Relisted (30) atkins-standard atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment eighth-amendment hall-v-florida intellectual-disability iq-test iq-testing standard-error-of-measurement Whether courts must deem the Atkins prong satisfied when an offender's lowest IQ score, decreased by one standard error of measurement, is 70 or below
23A129 Cuhuatemoc Peraita v. Alabama Alabama 2023-08-16 Presumed Complete capital-punishment extraneous-prejudicial-information jury-impartiality mitigation-evidence sixth-amendment waiver-of-rights Whether a capital defendant's waiver of mitigation evidence is knowing and voluntary under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments when the defendant suff…
23-5277 Sergio Ochoa v. Oak Smith, Acting Warden Ninth Circuit 2023-08-03 Denied IFP background-investigation capital-punishment capital-sentencing ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence neuropsychological-deficits post-traumatic-stress post-traumatic-stress-disorder strickland-v-washington williams-v-taylor Whether the Ninth Circuit's decision in Ochoa v. Davis conflicts with Supreme Court precedent in Williams v. Taylor, Wiggins v. Smith, and Rompilla v.…
23-5243 Johnny Johnson v. David Vandergriff, Warden Missouri 2023-07-31 Denied IFP capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment evidentiary-hearing ford-v-wainwright habeas-corpus mental-competency panetti-v-quarterman procedural-fairness Whether a report from a qualified neuropsychiatrist that a condemned prisoner is incompetent for execution that is not contradicted by any qualified e…
23-5244 Johnny Johnson v. David Vandergriff, Warden Eighth Circuit 2023-07-31 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254 capital-punishment competency-to-be-executed death-penalty delusional-beliefs habeas-corpus mental-competency mental-illness panetti-standard state-court-review Whether the state court's finding that the petitioner did not meet the Panetti threshold for incompetence to be executed was unreasonable under 28 U.S…
23A38 Joseph Gamboa v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2023-07-17 Presumed Complete AEDPA-statute-of-limitations attorney-abandonment capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel rule-60b-motion Whether a Rule 60(b) motion alleging abandonment by counsel can attack a defect in the integrity of habeas proceedings and excuse compliance with AEDP…
22-7466 Richard Eugene Glossip v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2023-05-04 Judgment Issued Amici (18)Relisted (12)IFP brady-v-maryland brady-violation capital-punishment due-process evidence-suppression false-testimony kyles-v-whitley materiality napue-v-illinois prosecutorial-misconduct witness-testimony whether-the-state's-suppression-of-the-key-prosecution-witness's-admission-he-was-under-the-care-of-a-psychiatrist-and-failure-to-correct-that-witness…
22-982 Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections v. Danny Lee Jones Ninth Circuit 2023-04-10 Judgment Issued Amici (4)Relisted (9) 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…
22-7233 Justin Heath Thomas v. California California 2023-04-06 Denied IFP apprendi-v-new-jersey capital-punishment constitutional-requirement criminal-sentencing death-penalty due-process jury-finding jury-trial reasonable-doubt ring-v-arizona statutory-maximum Whether California's death penalty scheme violates the constitutional requirement that any fact, other than a prior conviction, that serves to increas…
22-7135 Victoria Michelle Drain v. Ohio Ohio 2023-03-29 Denied IFP 8th-amendment capital-punishment capital-sentencing defense-counsel eddings-v-oklahoma eighth-amendment mitigating-evidence ohio-supreme-court sentencing-review strategic-choice Whether defense counsel has discretion to present mitigating evidence in a capital case
22-7136 Terry Froman v. Ohio Ohio 2023-03-29 Denied IFP 6th-amendment capital-punishment due-process impartial-jury ineffective-assistance-of-counsel juror-selection jury-impartiality racial-bias right-to-counsel trial-procedure Whether a capital defendant is denied his right to an impartial jury when admittedly racially biased jurors were allowed to determine his guilt and pu…
22-7134 Christopher L. Whitaker v. Ohio Ohio 2023-03-28 Denied IFP 14th-amendment 5th-amendment 6th-amendment 8th-amendment capital-defendant capital-punishment eighth-amendment fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment mitigation-evidence self-incrimination sixth-amendment Is a capital defendant's offer to plead guilty and waive all post-trial procedures in exchange for a life sentence admissible as mitigating evidence?
22-6964 Arthur Brown, Jr. v. Texas Texas 2023-03-08 Denied IFP atkins-claim atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment eighth-amendment intellectual-disability moore-precedent moore-v-texas procedural-bar texas-criminal-code-article-11.071-section-5(a)(1) Is Mr. Brown entitled to a merits review of his Atkins claim under federal law, Moore I and Moore II, and was the procedural bar asserted by the Texas…
22-6951 Zachariah Marcyniuk v. Dexter Payne, Director, Arkansas Division of Correction Eighth Circuit 2023-03-07 Denied IFP capital-punishment due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-fairness judicial-misconduct peremptory-strikes procedural-default state-officials supervisory-powers Whether cause exists to excuse procedural default when state officials made misleading statements that hindered counsel's compliance with state's proc…
22-6895 Heather Leavell-Keaton v. Alabama Alabama 2023-03-01 Denied Amici (1)Relisted (4)IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-rights death-penalty due-process evidence prison-behavior sentencing skipper-precedent skipper-v-south-carolina When a capital defendant's death sentence is vacated and the case is remanded for a new sentencing at which the death penalty is an available sentence…
22-6882 David Byron Russ v. Florida Florida 2023-02-28 Denied IFP capital-defendant capital-punishment criminal-procedure death-penalty due-process federal-courts habeas-corpus mental-competency review-claim state-court state-courts substantive-incompetency Whether a state court may refuse to review a capital defendant's claim of substantive incompetency?
22-6739 Harry Franklin Phillips v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2023-02-09 Denied IFP 14th-amendment 8th-amendment capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability circuit-split constitutional-law due-process eighth-amendment habeas-corpus intellectual-disability retroactivity Whether the denial of a Certificate of Appealability (COA) on the denial of a motion that seeks to amend a habeas petition pending on appeal violates …
22-6570 Richard Galvan Montiel v. Kevin Chappell, Warden Ninth Circuit 2023-01-19 Denied IFP atkins-claim atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mental-retardation strickland-standard strickland-v-washington where-a-capitally-sentenced-habeas-corpus-petitioner-relies-on-uncontradicted-strickland-mitigating-evidence-and-united-states-district-court-findings…
22-6534 Terry Lynn King v. Tony Mays, Warden Sixth Circuit 2023-01-13 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-trial constitutional-error cruel-and-unusual-punishment cumulative-error due-process federal-courts fourteenth-amendment harmless-error judicial-review Whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that courts consider the aggregate effect of multiple legal errors
22-6411 Granville Ritchie v. Florida Florida 2022-12-29 Denied IFP anti-immigrant capital-penalty capital-punishment constitutional-rights equal-protection immigration-status impartial-jury jury-bias prosecutorial-misconduct unconstitutional-conditions Does the United States Constitution prohibit a prosecutor from suggesting to a capital penalty jury that the defendant, as a foreigner and an immigran…
22-6191 John L. Lotter v. Nebraska Nebraska 2022-12-01 Denied IFP atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment collateral-review constitutional-law eighth-amendment hall-v-florida intellectual-disability moore-v-texas retroactivity substantive-rules Did Hall and Moore I announce new substantive rules of federal constitutional law that apply retroactively to cases on collateral review?
22-6150 Walter Raglin v. Tim Shoop, Warden Sixth Circuit 2022-11-23 Denied IFP capital-murder capital-punishment closing-arguments criminal-procedure ineffective-assistance procedural-bar res-judicata state-procedural-bar trial-counsel voir-dire Whether a capital defendant is deprived of the effective assistance of trial counsel
22-6096 Gary Eye v. United States Eighth Circuit 2022-11-18 Denied IFP 8th-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights competency due-process mental-illness Whether the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits the execution of a prisoner who has a severe mental illness that …
22-6054 Stephen Barbee v. Bryan Collier, et al. Fifth Circuit 2022-11-15 Denied IFP capital-punishment execution-chamber fifth-circuit first-amendment free-exercise prison-litigation-reform-act prison-policy religious-rights rluipa spiritual-advisor Whether the Fifth Circuit erred in vacating the injunction requiring TDCJ to publish a clear policy on religious expression in the execution chamber
22-5891 Kevin B. Burns v. Tony Mays, Warden Sixth Circuit 2022-10-24 Denied Amici (1)Relisted (7)IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing felony-murder ineffective-assistance moral-culpability residual-doubt sentencing state-law strickland-v-washington Whether an ineffective assistance claim may be based on counsel's failure to exercise a state-law right to introduce residual doubt evidence at a capi…
22-5513 Jerome Jenkins, Jr. v. South Carolina South Carolina 2022-09-06 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing due-process hearsay-rules hurst-v-florida judicial-bias jury-sentencing jury-waiver mitigating-evidence plea-bargaining state-statute Could a South Carolina trial judge who had told Petitioner he would sentence him to death if he pled guilty still rule, consistent with Hurst v. Flori…
22-5476 John R. Wood v. Bryan Stirling, Commissioner, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. Fourth Circuit 2022-08-30 Denied IFP capital-punishment fourth-circuit-review habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel prejudice prejudice-analysis prison-conditions strickland-standard Wilson-v-Sellers Whether the state court unreasonably applied Strickland-v-Washington
22-5093 Jerry Leon Haliburton v. Florida Florida 2022-07-13 Denied IFP burden-of-proof capital-punishment clear-and-convincing-evidence death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment intellectual-disability state-law Whether the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments permit States to impose on a capital defendant the burden of proving intellectual disability by clear and…
21-8279 Randy William Gay v. Arkansas Arkansas 2022-06-29 Denied IFP capital-defendant capital-punishment effective-assistance-of-counsel fair-jury fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-selection sixth-amendment voir-dire Whether a capital defendant's Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments rights to a fair and impartial jury and to the effective assistance of counsel are viola…
21-8144 Tavares J. Wright v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2022-06-15 Denied IFP atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment flynn-effect fourteenth-amendment hall-v-florida intellectual-disability iq-testing moore-v-texas Whether failing to apply the Flynn effect to a capital defendant's intelligence quotient scores violates the Eighth Amendment
21-8046 Joseph Martin Danks v. California California 2022-06-03 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-culpability cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process eighth-amendment inmate-rights mental-health state-liability state-responsibility Does the Eighth Amendment preclude the execution of a seriously mentally ill inmate whose homicidal behavior was the reasonably known, foreseeable, an…
21-7809 Urshawn Eric Miller v. Tennessee Tennessee 2022-05-09 Denied IFP arbitrary-and-capricious arbitrary-capricious capital-punishment comparative-proportionality-review death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment proportionality-review sentencing-review Whether Tennessee's comparative proportionality review satisfies the Eighth Amendment
21-7794 Paul C. Bolin v. Ron Broomfield, Warden Ninth Circuit 2022-05-06 Denied IFP aggravating-factors capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance jury-discretion mitigation mitigation-evidence prejudice-analysis prejudice-standard strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether a state or federal habeas court may reasonably conclude that a crime is so aggravated that no mitigation could persuade even one juror to vote…
21-7778 Lester Ochoa v. Ron Davis, Warden Ninth Circuit 2022-05-04 Denied IFP capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment cullen-v-pinholster eighth-amendment family-sympathy jury-instructions mitigation mitigation-evidence Whether a State court may prohibit jurors from considering sympathy for a defendant's family in the penalty phase of a capital case as mitigation
21-7670 In Re Oscar Smith 2022-04-21 Denied IFP actual-innocence aedpa capital-punishment constitutional-rights dna-evidence due-process habeas-corpus suspension-clause Whether the AEDPA bars federal review of a death row inmate's claim of actual innocence based on newly discovered DNA evidence, in violation of the Su…
21-7478 Derrick Jerome Spencer v. United States Eighth Circuit 2022-03-28 Denied IFP 1st-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights confrontation-clause constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process federal-courts standing takings Whether Bikoner is being deprived of his civil rights by the capital courts' denial of due process of law
21-7449 Leonard S. Taylor v. Paul Blair, Warden Eighth Circuit 2022-03-23 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-trial closing-argument ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel martinez-standard martinez-v-ryan mccoy-v-louisiana nixon-v-florida sixth-amendment strickland-test strickland-v-washington Whether the decision to forego a closing argument in the penalty phase of a capital murder trial is a tactical decision for trial counsel to make or a…
21-7400 Derrick U. Stricklin v. Nebraska Nebraska 2022-03-17 Denied IFP alibi-evidence capital-case capital-punishment criminal-procedure fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel sixth-amendment trial-tactics Whether the failure of defense counsel to file a notice of alibi and present ample alibi evidence when instructed to do so by the defendant in a capit…
21-7249 Jacob Ivan Hill v. United States Fourth Circuit 2022-03-02 Denied Response WaivedIFP capital-punishment civil-rights due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel ineffective-assistance mitigating-evidence prosecutorial-misconduct right-to-counsel self-defense sentencing-phase sixth-amendment Whether the failure of Tezai Covnser's to Jueoerm fys Cizenr Juwr He feces fh 'Menanrony' Lee Seusence Le He Cnwases To bo to Tarn) & hse, Nor fi elro…
21-7224 Johnathan I. Alcegaire v. Florida Florida 2022-02-28 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment due-process false-evidence false-testimony giglio giglio-claim jury-instructions jury-prejudice prosecutorial-misconduct Whether the Florida Supreme Court ignored fundamental principles of due process in rejecting the petitioner's Giglio claim and whether there is a reas…
21-1173 Joe Elton Nixon v. Florida Florida 2022-02-24 Denied Amici (1) and whether Florida's burden of proof for intelle atkins-v-virginia burden-of-proof capital-punishment constitutional-law eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment intellectual-disability teague-rule teague-v-lane whether-the-decision-in-hail-v-florida-announced-a-new-rule-of-constitutional-law
21-7082 William Speer v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2022-02-09 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing double-edged-evidence eighth-amendment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence sixth-amendment strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether the Fifth Circuit's resolution of the prejudice prong under Strickland v. Washington contravenes settled Sixth and Eighth Amendment precedent …
21-1044 Bryan P. Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. v. James Nathaniel Bryant, III Fourth Circuit 2022-01-26 Denied capital-punishment capital-sentencing due-process fact-finding federal-review habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance state-court-deference In review of a claim fully adjudicated in state court, did the district court violate 28-usc-2254, finality, federalism
21-6954 Robert Jurado v. Ronald Davis, Warden Ninth Circuit 2022-01-25 Denied IFP 14th-amendment 8th-amendment capital-punishment confession-evidence constitutional-amendments double-jeopardy mitigating-evidence ninth-circuit-review penalty-phase plea-bargaining skipper-standard Did the Ninth Circuit err in concluding that the California Supreme Court did not unreasonably apply federal law or unreasonably determine facts
21-938 Bryan P. Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. v. Sammie Louis Stokes Fourth Circuit 2021-12-23 GVR Relisted (2) capital-punishment fourth-circuit habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation-evidence prejudice-analysis procedural-default strategic-decision strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether the Fourth Circuit violated Strickland v. Washington in its prejudice analysis
21-6654 Donald H. Davidson, Jr. v. Florida Florida 2021-12-17 Denied IFP aggravating-factors alleyne-v-united-states apprendi-v-new-jersey capital-punishment capital-sentencing due-process hurst-v-florida mitigating-circumstances reasonable-doubt ring-v-arizona sentencing-determination Whether the Due Process Clause requires the additional determinations under Florida's capital sentencing scheme to be made beyond a reasonable doubt b…
21-6580 Kevin Johnson v. Troy Steele, Warden Eighth Circuit 2021-12-13 Denied IFP appellate-review batson-claim Batson-v-Kentucky capital-habeas capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability certificates-of-appealability eighth-circuit habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel Martinez-v-Ryan Does the Eighth Circuit's practice of issuing unexplained blanket denials of certificates of appealability in capital habeas cases conflict with 28-U.…
21-846 John Montenegro Cruz v. Arizona Arizona 2021-12-07 Judgment Issued Amici (9)Relisted (2) capital-punishment collateral-review due-process federal-law parole-ineligibility retroactivity state-court-decisions supreme-court Whether the rule in Simmons v. South Carolina, as applied in Lynch v. Arizona, must be applied retroactively to cases pending on collateral review
21-847 Jonathan Ian Burns v. Arizona Arizona 2021-12-07 Judgment Issued Relisted (3) capital-punishment collateral-review due-process federal-law parole-ineligibility retroactivity supreme-court Whether this Court's decision in Lynch applied a settled rule of federal law that must be applied to cases pending on collateral review in Arizona
21-6435 James Worley v. Ohio Ohio 2021-11-29 Denied IFP capital-conviction capital-punishment constitutional-rights fair-jury fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury-selection sixth-amendment voir-dire Is a capital conviction and sentence invalid and imposed in violation of the capital defendant's constitutional rights to a fair jury under the Fifth,…
21-782 Rodney Renia Young v. Georgia Georgia 2021-11-24 Denied Amici (4) burden-of-proof capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process eighth-amendment intellectual-disability state-law Does requiring a capital defendant to prove his intellectual disability beyond a reasonable doubt violate the Due Process Clause and the Eighth Amendm…
21-6307 Donald James Smith v. Florida Florida 2021-11-17 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment criminal-procedure due-process eighth-amendment fair-trial penalty-phase prosecutorial-misconduct sixth-amendment victim-impact Was petitioner's right to a fair 'penalty phase' trial violated when the prosecutor told the jurors, during closing arguments in the guilt phase, that…
21-6073 John Ray Falk, Jr. v. Texas Texas 2021-10-27 Denied IFP accomplice-liability capital-murder capital-punishment criminal-liability due-process guilty-plea law-of-parties notice plea-bargaining pro-se pro-se-defendant Whether a pro se defendant must be informed of the prosecution's theory of his own criminal liability when pleading guilty to a death-eligible homicid…
21-6083 James Osgood v. Alabama Alabama 2021-10-26 Denied IFP capital-punishment credibility-determinations death-penalty juror-challenge jury-selection sentencing-determination sixth-amendment trial-court witherspoon-v-illinois Can a reviewing court, consistent with the Sixth Amendment, uphold a challenge for cause in a capital case on the basis of a potential juror's persona…
21-466 Eric DeWayne Cathey v. Texas Texas 2021-09-28 Denied Amici (1) capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment intellectual-disability medical-criteria medical-standards precedent supreme-court-precedent Whether the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals contravened the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and this Court's precedents in rejecting a trial court's …
21-444 Andre Lee Thomas v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2021-09-22 Denied Amici (1)Relisted (22) aedpa-deference capital-punishment fifth-circuit habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel juror-bias racial-bias schizophrenia supreme-court-precedent voir-dire Denial of constitutional rights to impartial jury and effective assistance of counsel
21-5753 James Allyson Lee v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Eleventh Circuit 2021-09-22 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing childhood-trauma habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation-evidence post-conviction-relief ptsd ptsd-evidence strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether new mitigating evidence of a capital defendant's horrific childhood abuse and PTSD diagnosis can be considered cumulative and inconsequential …
21-5561 Tyrone Cade v. Texas Texas 2021-09-01 Denied IFP capital-habeas capital-punishment competent-counsel due-process fourteenth-amendment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance sixth-amendment state-responsibilities Whether the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause requires a State to provide capital habeas petitioners one opportunity to present Sixth Amendmen…
21-5491 Alton Alexander Nolen v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2021-08-26 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-procedure death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment intellectual-disability mental-retardation Whether Oklahoma's procedure for litigating the issue of intellectual disability comports with the Eighth Amendment
21-5378 Anthony Kirkland v. Ohio Ohio 2021-08-16 Denied IFP appellate-counsel appellate-procedure capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process eighth-amendment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel prosecutorial-misconduct Is a capital sentence invalid when the prosecutor leads the jury to believe the judge has already decided the defendant should be sentenced to death?
21-5347 Damantae Graham v. Ohio Ohio 2021-08-11 Denied IFP capital-punishment fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-selection racial-bias racial-prejudice sixth-amendment voir-dire Is capital appellate counsel ineffective under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments when they do not raise that both the trial court and trial defense …
21-5232 Duane Allen Short v. Ohio Ohio 2021-07-29 Denied IFP caldwell-v-mississippi capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-decency due-process eighth-amendment evolving-standards-of-decency jury-recommendation jury-trial sixth-amendment Is Ohio's capital sentencing scheme, which permits telling the jury that their decision is only a mere recommendation, unconstitutional under Hurst v.…
21-5093 Stephen Dale Barbee v. Texas Texas 2021-07-15 Denied IFP autonomy-right capital-defendant capital-punishment effective-assistance-of-counsel florida-v-nixon habeas-corpus habeas-review ineffective-assistance mccoy-v-louisiana sixth-amendment trial-counsel Whether the state court's decision to foreclose habeas review of a capital defendant's claim under McCoy v. Louisiana contravenes federal law
21-5094 Stanley Jalowiec v. Ohio Ohio 2021-07-13 Denied IFP caldwell-v-mississippi capital-case capital-punishment constitutional-error death-penalty hurst-v-florida jury-responsibility jury-selection sentencing-responsibility trial-procedure Is telling the jury that their decision is only a mere recommendation unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida?
21-5048 Wesley Lynn Ruiz v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2021-07-08 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing certificate-of-appealability due-process eighth-amendment expert-testimony expert-witness false-testimony prosecutorial-misconduct Should the prosecution be held responsible for presenting false expert testimony at a capital sentencing trial?
21-5052 Walter Drummond v. Mark S. Inch, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Florida 2021-07-08 Denied Response WaivedIFP capital-punishment civil-procedure constitutional-rights due-process florida-constitution habeas-corpus post-conviction-relief procedural-due-process standing us-constitution writ-of-corpus How Can a legitimate Writ of Habeas Corpus be denied outside the guidelines of the Florida Constitution
20-1742 Akil Jahi, aka Preston Carter v. Tennessee Tennessee 2021-06-15 Denied capital-punishment capital-trial counsel-limitations criminal-defense defendant-autonomy ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mccoy-v-louisiana penalty-phase sixth-amendment trial-procedure Does the Sixth Amendment holding of McCoy v. Louisiana apply to a penalty phase capital trial?
20-8093 Martin James Kipp v. Ron Broomfield, Acting Warden Ninth Circuit 2021-05-20 Denied IFP bible-reading biblical-reference capital-punishment capital-trial constitutional-rights external-influence habeas-corpus jury-deliberation jury-deliberations mattox-v-united-states presumed-prejudice remmer-v-united-states Whether clearly established federal law requires that a habeas petitioner's claim that his constitutional rights were violated because a juror read pa…
20-8075 Damantae Graham v. Ohio Ohio 2021-05-19 Denied IFP appellate-review capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-error constitutional-law criminal-procedure harmless-error trial-procedure victim-impact victim-impact-testimony Is a new trial required when an appellate court assumes a trial court's admission of irrelevant victim impact testimony was error?
20-8043 Carl Wayne Buntion v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2021-05-17 Denied IFP arbitrary capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty deterrence eighth-amendment retribution Whether carrying out the execution of a man who has spent thirty years under a sentence of death would violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition agai…
20-8038 Shawn Grate v. Ohio Ohio 2021-05-14 Denied Relisted (2)IFP capital-punishment criminal-defendant criminal-defense death-penalty due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel ineffective-assistance-of-counsel insanity-defense mental-health mitigation Whether a criminal defendant is deprived of the constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel and due process if trial counsel withdraws an …
20-7865 Terry Lee Froman v. Ohio Ohio 2021-04-27 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-duty death-penalty fair-trial jury-selection racial-bias structural-error voir-dire Does trial counsel have an obligation to conduct a meaningful and comprehensive voir dire as it relates to racial bias, explicit or implicit, of juror…
20-7813 Richard Allen Benson v. Kevin Chappell, Warden Ninth Circuit 2021-04-21 Dismissed IFP aedpa aedpa-standard capital-case capital-punishment due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance mitigation-evidence prima-facie state-law When a federal habeas court examines for reasonableness a silent state court habeas denial pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) (AEDPA) and Harrington v. R…
20-7665 Donald David Dillbeck v. Florida Florida 2021-04-06 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty due-process evolving-standards habeas-corpus medical-evidence mental-health post-conviction post-conviction-relief scientific-advancements scientific-evidence What constitutes diligence in raising newly discovered medical and/or mental health evidence and diagnoses?
20-7536 Timothy L. Coleman v. Margaret Bradshaw, Warden Sixth Circuit 2021-03-23 Denied IFP brady-violation capital-habeas capital-punishment confessed-murderer due-process eighth-amendment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel penalty-phase right-to-appeal right-to-due-process Whether a federal appellate court violates a capital habeas petitioner's rights by refusing to consider additional arguments and authorities in suppor…
20-1306 Alan Dale Walker v. Mississippi Mississippi 2021-03-19 Denied capital-case capital-punishment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel investigation mitigation-evidence psychological-trauma sixth-amendment tactical-decisions trial-counsel Did the Mississippi Supreme Court fail to adhere to this Court's Sixth Amendment jurisprudence requiring counsel in a capital case to conduct a thorou…
20-7373 Christopher Mathew Payne v. Arizona Arizona 2021-03-09 Denied IFP resulting in prejudice capital-punishment death-penalty due-process ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-instructions parole-ineligibility simmons-precedent Whether a death sentence may be carried out when defense counsel unreasonably fails to inform the jury of parole ineligibility under Simmons
20-7341 James Coddington v. Jim Farris, Warden Tenth Circuit 2021-03-05 Denied Amici (1)IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure due-process habeas-corpus harmless-error material-evidence mens-rea right-to-defense right-to-present-defense sixth-amendment Can the suppression of material evidence helpful to the defense ever be harmless error, not least when the exclusion violated the Sixth Amendment's ri…
20-7252 John Raymond Travis v. California California 2021-02-25 Denied IFP capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel fifth-amendment jury-instructions mitigating-factors sixth-amendment Whether a trial court may preclude all counsel from referencing the word 'mercy' during argument to the jury in the sentencing phase of a capital tria…
20-1171 Michael Madison v. Ohio Ohio 2021-02-25 Denied capital-punishment due-process fifth-amendment mental-health mitigation self-incrimination When a capital defendant intends to present mitigation evidence from mental health experts who have interviewed him, but affirmatively represents to t…
20-7205 Leonardo Franqui v. Florida Florida 2021-02-22 Denied IFP capital-defendant capital-punishment constitutional-interpretation due-process eighth-amendment hall-v-florida intellectual-disability jury-sentencing statutory-construction Is the Florida Supreme Court's understanding of the proper holistic evaluation to assess a capital defendant's intellectual disability consistent with…
20-1136 Peter Capote v. Alabama Alabama 2021-02-19 Denied 6th-amendment aggravating-circumstances capital-punishment death-penalty judicial-fact-finding judicial-weighing jury-trial mitigating-circumstances sentencing-scheme sixth-amendment Whether the Alabama death penalty sentencing scheme violates a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial
20-7065 Anibal Canales, Jr. v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2021-02-05 Denied Amici (2)Relisted (13)IFP capital-habeas capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence penalty-phase prejudice sixth-amendment Wiggins-v-Smith Whether Richter established a higher prejudice standard for penalty phase IAC violations than Wiggins
20-6947 Alphonso Cave v. Florida Florida 2021-01-26 Denied IFP capital-punishment civil-rights collateral-review due-process intellectual-disability montgomery-v-louisiana procedural-law retroactive-application retroactivity supreme-court-precedent Must Florida apply Hall v. Florida, 134 S. Ct. 1986 (2014) retroactively and review a claim of intellectual-disability on the merits for cases on coll…
20-6922 Melvin Bonnell v. Ohio Ohio 2021-01-25 Denied IFP brady-vs-maryland capital-punishment criminal-procedure due-process evidence prosecutorial-misconduct When a capitally sentenced defendant credibly demonstrates that state actors have continually exhibited bad-faith and the majority of evidence is lost…
20-6887 Harry Franklin Phillips v. Florida Florida 2021-01-14 Denied Amici (1)IFP atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment collateral-review eighth-amendment ex-post-facto intellectual-disability montgomery-v-louisiana retroactivity supremacy-clause Whether a state court must give retroactive effect on collateral review to the rule announced in Hall v. Florida
20-6498 Tony Barksdale v. Jefferson Dunn, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2020-12-02 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing certificate-of-appealability due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel eighth-amendment eleventh-circuit habeas-corpus sixth-amendment supreme-court-precedent Did the Eleventh Circuit misconstrue this Court's guidance in Buck v. Davis when it denied Petitioner a Certificate of Appealability?
20-701 James Calvert v. Texas Texas 2020-11-20 Denied Relisted (6) capital-punishment capital-sentencing due-process eighth-amendment mental-competency right-to-counsel structural-error Whether the Constitution prevents a State from allowing a defendant to represent himself in a capital case when the defendant is mentally competent to…
20-6166 Brad Keith Sigmon v. Bryan Stirling, Commissioner, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. Fourth Circuit 2020-10-29 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing cumulative-evidence evidentiary-hearing ineffective-assistance-of-counsel martinez-claim martinez-v-ryan mitigation-evidence sixth-amendment Whether the Fourth Circuit violated this Court's directives on the Sixth Amendment's right to effective counsel when it rejected Sigmon's Martinez evi…
20-6040 Charlie Bell Bullock v. Harold W. Clarke, Director, Virginia Department of Corrections Fourth Circuit 2020-10-15 Denied IFP capital-punishment confrontation-clause criminal-procedure cross-examination ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence professional-norms sentencing-phase sixth-amendment standard-of-review victim-rights Does the Confrontation Clause require a victim to be made available for cross-examination if pictures of them are submitted, and is counsel ineffectiv…
20-5941 Charles Victor Thompson v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2020-10-07 Denied Relisted (5)IFP 28-U.S.C-2254(e)(2) aedpa-deference capital-punishment constitutional-claim federal-habeas habeas-corpus Massiah-claims punishment Sixth-Amendment state-court-review Williams-v-Taylor Did the circuit court err in holding that a federal habeas court may never hold a hearing on a punishment issue without first considering 28-U.S.C-225…
20-5788 Edward James Wilkins v. Washington Washington 2020-09-24 Denied IFP 6th-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights conflict-of-interest constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel post-conviction-relief Whether Mr. Wilkins' 6th Amendment constitutional right to a constitutionally sufficient trial was violated
20-5734 Alfred Flores, III v. California California 2020-09-17 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-requirements criminal-procedure criminal-sentencing death-penalty due-process jury-findings jury-trial reasonable-doubt ring-v-arizona sentencing whether-california's-death-penalty-scheme-violates-the-constitutional-requirement-that-any-fact-that-increases-the-penalty-for-a-crime-must-be-found-b…
20-5716 James Ziegenfuss v. Anthony Mackey, et al. Arizona 2020-09-16 Denied Response WaivedIFP 8th-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights competency due-process mental-illness Whether the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits the execution of a prisoner who has been diagnosed with a severe …
20-301 Timothy B. Hennis v. United States Armed Forces 2020-09-09 Denied Amici (1) capital-punishment constitutional-provisions court-martial double-jeopardy due-process military-justice military-law state-court-acquittal state-jurisdiction Whether the offenses for which Petitioner was tried and acquitted in state court constituted offenses 'for which [he] cannot be tried in the courts of…
20-240 Kentucky v. Larry Lamont White Kentucky 2020-08-28 Denied Amici (1) atkins-v-virginia atkins-waiver capital-defendant capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-law due-process habeas-corpus intellectual-disability standing supreme-court-precedent Whether a capital defendant can waive a claim of intellectual disability under Atkins v. Virginia
20-5517 Scotty Ray Gardner v. Arkansas Arkansas 2020-08-27 Denied IFP access-to-courts aggravating-circumstance aggravating-circumstances appellate-review capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty due-process jury-instructions Whether due process requires that every statutory element of an aggravating circumstance be proven beyond a reasonable doubt
20-5492 Ray Lamar Johnston v. Mark S. Inch, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2020-08-25 Denied IFP appellate-review caldwell-v-mississippi capital-punishment constitutional-claims death-penalty due-process habeas-corpus hurst-v-florida ineffective-assistance jury-instructions procedural-default Whether the Eleventh Circuit should have remanded or expanded the appeal
20-5263 Patrick W. Schroeder v. Nebraska Nebraska 2020-08-05 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment mitigation mitigation-evidence pro-se pro-se-representation proportionality sentencing Whether the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments are violated when a capital sentencing panel issues a death sentence despite the defendant's refusal to i…
20-5089 William Kirkpatrick, Jr. v. Kevin Chappell, Warden Ninth Circuit 2020-07-16 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254e1 capital-inmate-rights capital-punishment colloquy due-process federal-review habeas-corpus presumption-of-correctness state-court-proceedings waiver waiver-of-rights whitmore-v-arkansas Whether the Ninth Circuit contravened Whitmore v. Arkansas in upholding a capital inmate's waiver of the right to proceed absent a colloquy demonstrat…
20-26 Wesley Ira Purkey v. United States, et al. Seventh Circuit 2020-07-15 Denied capital-punishment collateral-review federal-capital-prisoners federal-prisoners ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel martinez-v-ryan post-conviction procedural-default trevino-v-thaler trial-counsel Whether federal capital prisoners whose substantial claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel were defaulted by ineffective § 2255 counsel may…
20-5065 Brett A. Bogle v. Florida Florida 2020-07-15 Denied IFP brady-v-maryland brady-violation capital-punishment due-process false-evidence giglio-v-united-states giglio-violation impeachment microscopic-hair-analysis prosecutorial-misconduct scientific-evidence Whether the prosecution violates Giglio v. United States and/or Brady v. Maryland
19-8922 Amber Renee Craker v. Texas Texas 2020-07-08 Denied Response WaivedIFP administrative-law administrative-proceedings agency-discretion capital-punishment civil-rights criminal-procedure due-process equal-protection ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-review statutory-interpretation Whether the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals erred in denying discretionary review, in violation of the Petitioner's constitutional rights
19-8800 Justice Jerrell Knight v. Alabama Alabama 2020-06-25 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process equal-protection jury-prejudice prejudicial-evidence racial-bias sentencing Whether the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments are violated when the State introduces irrelevant evidence at the guilt phase alleging the defendant poses…
19-8778 John Michael Allen v. Arizona Arizona 2020-06-22 Denied IFP accomplice capital-punishment criminal-sentencing eighth-amendment felony innocent-life nontriggerman Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits capital punishment for a 'nontriggerman' accomplice to a felony that is not likely to result in the loss of inn…
19-8746 Scott A. Group v. Ohio Ohio 2020-06-18 Denied IFP capital-defendant capital-punishment dna-evidence due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel new-evidence new-trial trial-court Whether a state court deprives a capital defendant due process by denying a request to present new evidence to challenge the conviction without consid…
19-1361 Richard Jordan, et al. v. Georgia Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2020-06-11 Denied 8th-amendment alternative-method availability capital-punishment death-penalty department-of-corrections departments-of-corrections execution-method feasibility Glossip-v-Gross legal-precedent Whether evidence of how other departments of corrections have obtained and successfully administered an alternative execution method is relevant to sh…
19-8660 Thomas Michael Riley v. Arizona Arizona 2020-06-10 Denied IFP aggravating-factors capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-review death-penalty furman-v-georgia gregg-v-georgia narrowing-requirement sentencing-scheme To pass constitutional muster, must a death eligibility scheme collectively narrow the class of defendants eligible for the death penalty?
19-8392 Juan Balderas v. Texas Texas 2020-05-04 Denied IFP brady-violation capital-punishment constitutional-violations due-process evidentiary-hearing habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance post-conviction state-procedures In a death penalty case, where a state provides a post-conviction procedure for challenging the unresolved constitutional violations that occurred at …
19-8341 Richard Knight v. Florida Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2020-04-23 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure florida-sentencing hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-precedent ring-v-arizona teague-standard teague-v-lane Whether Hurst v. Florida is retroactive to the petitioner under Teague v. Lane
19-8229 Donnie L. Harris, Jr. v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2020-04-09 Denied IFP capital-punishment due-process fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment newly-discovered-evidence statute-of-limitations statutory-interpretation Does Oklahoma's strict application of its statutory requirement that all newly discovered evidence in capital cases must be presented within one year …
19-8175 Kitrich A. Powell v. Nevada Nevada 2020-04-03 Denied IFP aggravating-factors burden-of-proof capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty jury-instructions mitigating-circumstances sixth-amendment Did the Nevada Supreme Court violate Mr. Powell's constitutional rights by making the outweighing requirement an afterthought for the jury, used only …
19-8090 Joseph Weldon Smith v. Nevada Nevada 2020-03-24 Denied IFP aggravating-factors capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty due-process jury-instructions mitigating-circumstances sixth-amendment Did the Nevada Supreme Court violate Mr. Smith's constitutional rights by making the outweighing requirement an afterthought for the jury, used only t…
19-1100 Leroy D. Cropper v. Arizona Arizona 2020-03-09 Denied Amici (2) capital-punishment death-penalty due-process ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-instructions parole-eligibility parole-ineligibility simmons-v-south-carolina sixth-amendment Whether a death sentence may be carried out when defense counsel unreasonably fails to inform the jury of parole ineligibility under Simmons v. South …
19-7862 Wesley Paul Coonce, Jr. v. United States Eighth Circuit 2020-03-03 Denied Relisted (4)IFP atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment confrontation-clause eighth-amendment equal-protection fifth-amendment intellectual-disability moral-culpability sentencing-hearing Whether the execution of a defendant with intellectual disability that arose after age 18 violates the Eighth and Fifth Amendments
19-7689 Nicholas Todd Sutton v. Tennessee Tennessee 2020-02-18 Denied IFP capital-punishment fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment retroactivity vagueness 5th-amendment capital-punishment due-process fair-notice fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment johnson-v-united-states retroactivity vagueness vagueness-doctrine Whether Tennessee's facially-vague prior violent felony aggravating circumstance provided fair notice as required under Johnson v. United States and t…
19-7680 Samuel Howard v. Nevada Nevada 2020-02-14 Denied IFP appellate-review capital-punishment constitutional-law criminal-procedure death-penalty death-penalty-sentencing due-process hurst-v-florida judicial-precedent retroactivity sentencing sentencing-procedure sixth-amendment Whether appellate reweighing is constitutional after Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016)
19-7647 William P. Castillo v. Nevada Nevada 2020-02-12 Denied Amici (1)IFP aggravating-factors appellate-review apprendi apprendi-line capital-punishment capital-sentencing clemons-v-mississippi death-penalty jury-instructions mitigating-circumstances mitigating-evidence mitigation-evidence reweighing Should this Court overrule Clemons v. Mississippi
19-7541 Richard Hurles v. David Shinn, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, et al. Ninth Circuit 2020-02-04 Denied IFP 14th-amendment 8th-amendment capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment judicial-bias judicial-ethics recusal right-to-fair-trial Are the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments violated where a judge who has personally litigated against a defendant in the same case presides over his tr…
19-967 Craig M. Wood v. Missouri Missouri 2020-02-03 Denied Relisted (2) capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-rights death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment jury-determination jury-trial sentencing sixth-amendment Whether the Constitution requires that a jury, rather than a judge, weigh the aggravating and mitigating circumstances to determine whether a defendan…
19-7481 Patrick Henry Murphy v. Texas Texas 2020-01-29 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254 capital-murder capital-punishment constitutional-law death-penalty due-process enmund-v-florida federal-habeas jury-determination jury-trial sentencing tison-v-arizona Does Ring dictate that a jury determine whether a capital murder defendant is eligible for a sentence of death under Enmund and Tison, and, if so, is …
19-7488 Donnie Cleveland Lance v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Georgia 2020-01-29 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-procedure death-penalty due-process equal-protection fourteenth-amendment grand-jury grand-jury-selection habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel prosecutorial-misconduct sixth-amendment Was petitioner denied his rights under the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments when he was sentenced to death following his indictment by a non-r…
19-7456 Taurus Carroll v. Alabama Alabama 2020-01-28 Denied IFP atkins-standard atkins-v-virginia brumfield-v-cain capital-punishment current-medical-standards eighth-amendment hall-v-florida intellectual-disability medical-standards moore-v-texas supreme-court-review Does the Alabama Supreme Court's continued reliance upon evidence that fails to adhere to current medical standards in rejecting Mr. Carroll's claim o…
19-941 Billy Daniel Raulerson, Jr. v. Warden, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison Eleventh Circuit 2020-01-28 Denied Amici (2) aedpa atkins-v-virginia burden-of-proof capital-punishment cooper-v-oklahoma due-process habeas-corpus intellectual-disability supreme-court-precedent Whether Georgia's requirement that a capital defendant prove intellectual disability beyond a reasonable doubt violates the Eighth Amendment
19-922 Donnie Cleveland Lance v. Georgia Georgia 2020-01-23 Denied capital-punishment dna-testing due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection extraordinary-motion fourteenth-amendment innocence-claim new-trial Was petitioner denied due process and equal protection
19-7309 James Milton Dailey v. Florida Florida 2020-01-15 Denied Amici (5)Relisted (5)IFP capital-punishment chambers-exception chambers-v-mississippi codefendant-confession due-process fifth-amendment hearsay hearsay-evidence innocence parole third-party-confession Was the Florida Supreme Court's analysis of Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284 (1973), employing a factor-based approach that has been embraced by …
19-7063 Leeton Jahwanza Thomas v. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 2019-12-26 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury-trial reasonable-doubt sixth-amendment Were Petitioner's rights under the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution violated by a Pennsylvania statutory sch…
19-6976 James Clayton Johnson v. Arizona Arizona 2019-12-17 Denied IFP arizona capital-punishment constitutional-challenge cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty due-process evidentiary-hearing factual-findings meaningful-opportunity standing Does a court deprive a capital defendant of his due process right to a meaningful opportunity to be heard when the defendant challenges the constituti…
19-6918 Michael Wade Nance v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Eleventh Circuit 2019-12-12 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing circuit-split constitutional-rights habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation-strategy record-evidence strickland-v-washington stun-belt trial-counsel Whether courts must consider the record evidence in determining the reasonableness of trial counsel's actions, or can deem them strategic and reasonab…
19-6856 James W. Riley v. Delaware Delaware 2019-12-05 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP capital-punishment conflict-of-interest constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process evidentiary-considerations fair-trial ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-misconduct judicial-review right-to-counsel right-to-fair-trial sentencing sentencing-discretion Should Abns courct extend Ts Hucsh wv. Florida cubug
19-6860 In Re Lee Hall 2019-12-04 Denied IFP biased-juror capital-case capital-punishment due-process extraordinary-circumstances habeas habeas-corpus habeas-review juror-bias original-jurisdiction structural-error Whether the structural error of service of by biased juror in a capital case, discovered on the eve of execution, presents extraordinary circumstances…
19-697 James Dwight Pavatt v. Tommy Sharp, Interim Warden Tenth Circuit 2019-12-03 Denied Amici (2) aggravating-factor aggravating-factors arbitrary-application capital-punishment capital-punishment-sentencing capital-sentence cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment habeas-corpus procedural-bar procedural-ruling Whether a State's application of an aggravating factor to justify the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments when it makes punish…
19-6604 Ray Jefferson Cromartie v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Eleventh Circuit 2019-11-13 Denied IFP capital-case-appeal capital-punishment circuit-split diligence evidentiary-hearing habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel malice-murder new-evidence new-evidence-of-innocence Whether new evidence of innocence obtained by subsequent diligent counsel should be deemed new evidence, even if prior counsel provided deficient repr…
19-6479 In Re Charles Russell Rhines 2019-11-01 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment habeas-corpus juror-bias sexual-orientation Should this Court exercise its original habeas jurisdiction to transfer this petition to the district court for a hearing regarding Petitioner's subst…
19-6156 Randy Ethan Halprin v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-10-03 Denied Relisted (6)IFP abuse-of-the-writ aedpa anti-semitism capital-punishment constitutional-claim due-process federal-procedure habeas-corpus judicial-bias racial-discrimination recusal second-or-successive-petition Whether Halprin's second federal petition raising a judicial bias claim is 'second or successive' under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(2) if the judge concealed …
19-6061 Phillip Jones v. Ohio Ohio 2019-09-25 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation-investigation sixth-amendment strickland-v-washington Whether trial counsel is ineffective in a capital case when counsel conducts their mitigation investigation after the trial begins, does not allow the…
19-239 Larry Benzon, Warden v. Troy Michael Kell Tenth Circuit 2019-08-23 Denied Amici (1) appeal appeals appellate-review capital-case capital-punishment collateral-order-doctrine district-court federalism habeas-corpus rhines-v-weber stay Whether a district court's order staying and abeying a capital prisoner's habeas corpus petition under Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269 (2005), is immedi…
19-5672 Gary Ray Bowles v. Mark S. Inch, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2019-08-22 Denied IFP 28-usc-2244 capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment habeas-corpus intellectual-disability procedural-obstacles Whether a capital defendant's claim that the Eighth Amendment forbids his execution as he is intellectually disabled becomes viable upon the issuance …
19-5682 In Re Gary Ray Bowles 2019-08-22 Denied IFP 28-usc-2244 atkins-claim atkins-v-virginia capital-punishment death-penalty habeas-corpus intellectual-disability successive-habeas-petition successive-petition writ-of-certiorari Should this Court use its power to grant a writ of habeas corpus to a capital defendant who has no other available forum to raise his compelling claim…
19-5592 Dawud Spaulding v. Ohio Ohio 2019-08-15 Denied IFP capital-defendant capital-punishment defense-counsel due-process evidence ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel legal-presumption post-conviction post-conviction-proceedings record record-evidence standard-of-review strategic-decision strategic-decision-making Should courts presume defense counsel acted strategically, even when the evidence in the record demonstrates a lack of strategy in their actions?
19-5394 Michael Leon Bell v. California California 2019-07-30 Denied IFP aggravating-circumstances capital-punishment constitutional-procedure death-penalty due-process fourteenth-amendment jury-fact-finding jury-trial mitigating-circumstances reasonable-doubt sentencing sentencing-standards sixth-amendment Does California's death penalty scheme violate the requirement that every fact, other than a prior conviction, that serves to increase the statutory m…
19-5313 Thomas Arthur Kahlow v. Florida Florida 2019-07-24 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP 14th-amendment capital-punishment constitutional-limits due-process excessive-punishment federal-statutes fourteenth-amendment indefinite-imprisonment life-imprisonment state-constitutional-law state-governments Whether the right to due process of law is denied by Florida's imposition of a capital life imprisonment sentence
19-5062 Henry Lee Jones v. Tennessee Tennessee 2019-07-03 Denied IFP capital-punishment confrontation-clause due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment Hearsay sixth-amendment witness-testimony Did depriving the Petitioner of his ability to confront and cross-examination the key evidence at his capital trial violate the Sixth, Eighth, and Fou…
18-9838 Cedric Floyd v. Alabama Alabama 2019-06-27 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment fifth-amendment remorse right-to-remain-silent Whether the Fifth and Eighth Amendments are violated when the State argues for a death sentence based on the defendant's failure to express remorse in…
18-9745 Marion Wilson, Jr. v. Georgia Georgia 2019-06-20 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment dna-testing due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection forensic-evidence procedural-issues procedural-safeguards Whether the state court's refusal to provide a hearing mandated by Georgia's DNA statute denied due process
18A1326 Lisa Montgomery v. United States Eighth Circuit 2019-06-18 Presumed Complete capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability constitutional-challenge death-penalty federal-habeas section-2255 Whether a federal death row inmate's constitutional rights were violated by the denial of a certificate of appealability and the underlying judicial p…
18-9626 In Re Rexford Tweed 2019-06-11 Dismissed IFP capital-punishment constitutional-violation due-process due-process,eighth-amendment,florida-constitution, eighth-amendment habeas-corpus indefinite-sentence life-sentence minimum-mandatory parole parole-eligibility sentencing-statute Whether petitioner's Florida capital life prison sentence with a 25-year minimum mandatory followed by eligibility for parole under Florida Statute §7…
18-9579 James D. Tench v. Ohio Ohio 2019-06-07 Denied IFP aggravating-circumstances capital-defendant capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty' 'When a reviewing court independen due-process evidence-admission guilty-verdict hurst-v-florida jury jury-verdict mitigating-factors prejudicial-evidence sixth-amendment Does the admission of improper and prejudicial evidence violate a capital defendant's right to due process?
18-9554 In Re Billie J. Allen 2019-06-05 Denied Relisted (2)IFP alabama-v-shelton arizona-v-fulminante capital-case capital-punishment due-process gideon-v-wainwright habeas-corpus mccoy-v-louisiana non-capital-case right-to-counsel structural-error Whether McCoy V Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 1500 (2018) is a new 'watershed rule
18-1495 Bryan P. Stirling, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections, et al. v. Charles Christopher Williams Fourth Circuit 2019-05-31 Denied aedpa aedpa-review aedpa-standard capital-case capital-punishment capital-sentencing double-edged-evidence double-edged-sword fetal-alcohol-syndrome future-dangerousness habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether a state court is objectively unreasonable under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1) in concluding a capital defendant was not prejudiced by counsel's failu…
18-9468 Melvin Bonnell v. Tim Shoop, Warden Sixth Circuit 2019-05-29 Denied IFP 28-usc-2244 capital-conviction capital-punishment federal-habeas habeas-corpus jurisdiction jurisdictional-defect magwood-v-patterson nunc-pro-tunc second-or-successive statutory-interpretation Whether a state court's nunc pro tunc judgment cures a jurisdictional defect in a capital defendant's conviction, and whether the first federal habeas…
18-9252 Kevin Foster v. Florida Florida 2019-05-15 Denied IFP capital-murder capital-punishment death-penalty death-sentence due-process eighth-amendment first-degree-murder jury-findings jury-unanimity reasonable-doubt unanimous-verdict Whether Mr. Foster's death sentence is unconstitutional because it violates the Eighth Amendment and the Due Process Clause
18-9274 William Lee Thompson v. Florida Florida 2019-05-14 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection retroactivity sentencing-procedure teague-v-lane Whether the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of Equal Protection and the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of capricious capital sentencing impose limits…
18-9227 Robert Sparks v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-05-10 Denied IFP capital-punishment cross-examination due-process expert-testimony expert-witness false-testimony harmless-error jury-impartiality prosecutorial-misconduct Does cross-examination of a prosecution's expert cure all harm from that expert's repeated false testimony during a capital punishment proceeding, and…
18-9214 Jessie Livell Phillips v. Alabama Alabama 2019-05-09 Denied IFP autopsy-photograph capital-murder capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment fair-trial fourteenth-amendment reliable-conviction reliable-sentence Whether the admission of a gruesome and unnecessary internal autopsy photograph, lacking probative value and showing post-crime mutilation by the medi…
18-9151 Blake Joseph Sandlain v. United States Sixth Circuit 2019-05-06 Denied Response WaivedIFP 6th-amendment appellate-counsel capital-punishment criminal-procedure effective-assistance-of-counsel habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel prejudice successive-petition Does the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel require a showing of prejudice to establish a claim that appellate counsel was ineff…
18-9033 Michael Brandon Samra v. Alabama Alabama 2019-04-30 Denied IFP brain-development capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty eighth-amendment evolving-standards evolving-standards-of-decency juvenile-offender juvenile-offenders neuroscientific-research Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits the death penalty against offenders who were under 21 at the time of their crime
18-8992 Charles Lorraine v. Ohio Ohio 2019-04-25 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty death-sentence eighth-amendment judge-sentencing judicial-fact-finding jury-trial jury-verdict sixth-amendment spaziano-v-florida Is Ohio's death penalty scheme unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida?
18-8970 John William King v. Texas Texas 2019-04-23 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure death-penalty habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel lesser-included-offense mccoy-v-louisiana retroactivity sixth-amendment sixth-amendment-right-to-counsel teague-analysis teague-v-lane watershed-rule Whether McCoy applies when a defendant's attorneys concede, against his wishes, his guilt to a lesser-included offense during final argument, and is a…
18-1306 Fred Anderson, Jr. v. Florida Florida 2019-04-16 Denied Amici (3) advisory-jury capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty florida-supreme-court harmless-error hurst-v-florida judge-sentencing jury-trial jury-verdict sixth-amendment structural-error Whether a judge-imposed death sentence that violates Hurst is a structural error requiring reversal of the sentence
18-8844 Farris G. Morris v. Tennessee Sixth Circuit 2019-04-16 Denied IFP recognized by Tyler-v-Cain to determine what opinions are subject to retroac 28-u.s.c.-2244(b)(3)(e) 28-usc-2244 batson-challenge capital-punishment civil-rights collateral-review due-process fourteenth-amendment habeas-corpus jury-discrimination retroactive-application retroactivity supreme-court-authority tyler-v-cain Does the Constitution permit Congress to enact 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(E) to divest this Court of its authority, recognized by Tyler v. Cain, to determ…
18-8845 Abel Revill Ochoa v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-04-16 Denied IFP ayestas-v-davis capital-case capital-punishment death-penalty due-process federal-funding funding habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel legal-representation procedural-standard statutory-interpretation Whether, in light of Ayestas v. Davis, 138 S. Ct. 1080 (2018), a court applies an overly burdensome standard for funding under 18 U.S.C. § 3599(f) whe…
18-8683 James Aren Duckett v. Florida Florida 2019-04-03 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-law due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection retroactivity Whether the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of Equal Protection and the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of capricious capital sentencing impose limits…
18-8670 Demetrius Terrence Frazier v. Alabama Alabama 2019-04-02 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-interpretation cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-sentencing due-process equal-protection judicial-fact-finding jury-fact-finding jury-sentencing jury-trial retroactive-rule retroactivity sixth-amendment Does Alabama's capital sentencing statute violate Hurst v. Florida?
18-8615 In Re Patrick Henry Murphy 2019-03-28 Denied IFP capital-punishment civil-rights due-process equal-protection establishment-clause execution-protocol first-amendment free-exercise religious-accommodation religious-freedom state-procedure Whether the Constitution or federal statutory law requires that members of all faiths be permitted to be accompanied in the execution chamber by a min…
18-8583 Gilbert Postelle v. Mike Carpenter, Interim Warden Tenth Circuit 2019-03-27 Denied IFP capital-punishment eighth-amendment flynn-effect fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel intellectual-disability mitigating-evidence sixth-amendment Whether the failure to investigate and present mitigating evidence of intellectual disability based on the Flynn Effect violates the Sixth, Eighth, an…
18-8569 Melvin Bonnell v. Ohio Ohio 2019-03-26 Denied IFP appellate-review capital-punishment dna-evidence dna-testing due-process hearsay hearsay-evidence prosecutorial-misconduct Whether a trial court may deny a DNA application in a capital case based solely on the untested hearsay of the prosecuting attorney and in contraventi…
18-8466 Gregory Hunt v. Alabama Alabama 2019-03-19 Denied IFP brady-v-maryland brady-vs-maryland capital-case capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process expert-testimony false-evidence prosecutorial-misconduct strickler-v-greene strickler-vs-greene May the presentation of false evidence in a capital case be excused for want of diligence, when the evidence was challenged only after the State's exp…
18-8432 Kelly Foust v. Ohio Ohio 2019-03-15 Denied Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP capital-defendant capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-interpretation criminal-procedure death-penalty hurst-precedent hurst-v-florida jury jury-waiver sixth-amendment Does Ohio's death penalty scheme violate the Sixth Amendment right to a jury as explained in Hurst v. Florida?
18-8409 Anthony Mungin v. Florida Florida 2019-03-14 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty disparate-treatment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment retroactivity Whether the Florida Supreme Court's application of only partial retroactivity of Hurst v. State and Hurst v. Florida violates the Eighth and Fourteent…
18-8415 John L. Lotter v. Nebraska Nebraska 2019-03-13 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment judicial-discretion jury-trial sentencing sixth-amendment Does Nebraska's capital sentencing scheme requiring a three-judge panel, rather than a jury, to impose a sentence of death violate the Eighth Amendmen…
18-8386 Michael Apelt v. Charles L. Ryan, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections Ninth Circuit 2019-03-12 Denied Amici (1)IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing evidentiary-hearing fact-finding federal-habeas federal-habeas-corpus habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mental-illness mental-impairment prejudice strickland-standard strickland-v-washington When determining if a capital defendant was prejudiced by counsel's deficient performance during state sentencing, whether the federal court may bypas…
18-8389 Marion Wilson, Jr. v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Eleventh Circuit 2019-03-12 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254 brain-damage capital-case capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether trial counsel's ineffective assistance in failing to investigate and present mitigating evidence of the defendant's difficult childhood and fr…
18-8399 Randall Scott Jones v. Florida Florida 2019-03-12 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-law death-penalty eighth-amendment eighth-amendment-cruel-and-unusual-punishment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment fourteenth-amendment-due-process hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-v-arizona supremacy-clause supreme-court-precedent Does the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity formula for Hurst v. Florida violations violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments?
18-8340 Victor Roblero v. Ralph Diaz, Acting Secretary, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Ninth Circuit 2019-03-08 Denied IFP constitutes a violation of the Sixth Amendment ri specifically the failure to investigate and prese appeal capital-punishment criminal-procedure due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel intellectual-disability mental-health sixth-amendment Whether the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel was violated when trial counsel failed to investigate and present evidence of the…
18-8323 Bryan Frederick Jennings v. Florida Florida 2019-03-07 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty death-penalty-review eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-state jury-recommendation newly-discovered-evidence Whether the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments require the law of Hurst v. State to be factored into the analysis of the likelihood of a less severe sen…
18-8300 Paul Glen Everett v. Florida Florida 2019-03-06 Denied IFP capital-case capital-punishment constitutional-defect harmless-error harmless-error-review hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity sixth-amendment sixth-amendment-error structural-defect structural-error trial-mechanism Whether the Sixth Amendment error identified by this Court in Hurst v. Florida is a structural defect that infects the entire constitutionality of the…
18-8090 Edward J. Zakrzewski, II v. Florida Florida 2019-02-22 Denied IFP capital-punishment criminal-procedure death-penalty eighth-amendment florida-supreme-court fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-state jury-unanimity retroactive-application retroactivity savings-clause substantive-law Whether the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments require retroactive application of the Florida Supreme Court's decision in Hurst v. State to capital defe…
18-8052 Michael Duane Zack, III v. Florida Florida 2019-02-21 Denied IFP apprendi-v-new-jersey capital-punishment death-penalty death-sentence eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-retroactivity retroactivity Does the partial retroactivity formula for Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016) claims designed by the Florida Supreme Court, as applied to a priso…
18-8057 Duane Allen Short v. Ohio Ohio 2019-02-21 Denied IFP capital-defense capital-punishment death-penalty death-row effective-assistance-of-counsel ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation mitigation-evidence plea-bargaining sixth-amendment Whether a capital defendant's Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel is violated where, but for counsel's intervention and unfou…
18-8016 James Goff v. Ohio Ohio 2019-02-19 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty hurst-v-florida judicial-fact-finding jury-trial mitigation-evidence resentencing sentencing sixth-amendment Is a trial judge's independent weighing of new mitigation evidence and imposition of the death penalty at a resentencing hearing unconstitutional unde…
18-7772 Antonio Franklin v. Ohio Ohio 2019-02-05 Denied IFP capital-punishment civil-rights constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process effective-counsel execution-date habeas-corpus right-to-counsel Is the right to effective representation critical during which time the State moves for an execution date?
18-7658 Julius Darius Jones v. Oklahoma Oklahoma 2019-01-30 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment juror-bias post-conviction post-conviction-review racial-prejudice sixth-amendment Whether newly-discovered evidence establishes that racial prejudice influenced the decision of at least one juror to convict Mr. Jones and sentence hi…
18-7670 Thomas Alexander Porter v. David Zook, Warden Fourth Circuit 2019-01-30 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-claims death-penalty-sentencing due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment future-dangerousness habeas-corpus mitigating-evidence procedural-due-process Whether a state rule that excludes as irrelevant evidence that a capital defendant is unlikely to pose a risk of future violence in prison is contrary…
18-7643 Billy Leon Kearse v. Florida Florida 2019-01-29 Denied IFP apprendi-v-new-jersey capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment retroactivity ring-v-arizona supremacy-clause Does the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity approach providing for relief pursuant to Hurst v. Florida and Hurst v. State to death-sentence…
18-937 Abelino Manriquez v. Ralph Diaz, Acting Secretary, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation California 2019-01-18 Denied actual-bias capital-case capital-punishment fourteenth-amendment habeas-corpus implied-bias juror-bias jury-impartiality life-experiences sixth-amendment What test determines whether a juror's life experiences are so similar to facts in the case that the juror must be disqualified for bias under the Six…
18-7442 Kevin Underwood v. Mike Carpenter, Warden Tenth Circuit 2019-01-16 Denied IFP aggravating-circumstances apprendi-v-new-jersey beyond-reasonable-doubt capital-punishment capital-punishment-scheme capital-sentencing death-penalty due-process jury-findings jury-instructions mitigating-circumstances reasonable-doubt supreme-court-precedent tenth-circuit Whether the Tenth Circuit's decision conflicts with Apprendi v. New Jersey and Ring v. Arizona
18-7457 Charles Edward Case v. California California 2019-01-16 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-amendment criminal-sentencing death-penalty fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury jury-finding reasonable-doubt sixth-amendment Does California's death penalty scheme violate the requirement under the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments that every fact other than a prior con…
18-7428 Harry Jones v. Florida Florida 2019-01-15 Denied IFP arbitrary-cutoff capital-murder capital-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-retroactivity eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity retroactivity Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity rule as to violations pursuant to Hurst v. Florida violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendm…
18-7353 Nathaniel Jackson v. Ohio Ohio 2019-01-10 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment judge-sentencing judicial-sentencing jury-recommendation jury-sentencing jury-trial sixth-amendment spaziano-v-florida Is Ohio's death penalty scheme unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida?
18-7226 Omar Blanco v. Florida Florida 2019-01-03 Denied IFP 14th-amendment 8th-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights death-penalty due-process retroactivity supremacy-clause Did Hall v. Florida announce a substantive rule of constitutional law?
18-7101 John Samuel Ghobrial v. California California 2018-12-19 Denied IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-procedure criminal-sentencing death-penalty due-process fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment jury-finding jury-trial reasonable-doubt sentencing sixth-amendment statutory-maximum Does California's death penalty scheme violate the requirement under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments that every fact that serves to increa…
18-7091 Steven Anthony Butler v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2018-12-18 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing competence competency-evaluation ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel investigation judicial-process judicial-review mental-competence mental-health mitigating-evidence procedural-fairness When must the Court exercise its supervisory power to assure the fairness of the judicial process?
18-6890 In Re Joseph C. Garcia 2018-11-30 Denied IFP actual-innocence capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty death-row eighth-amendment eighth-amendment-cruel-and-unusual-punishment fourteenth-amendment fourteenth-amendment-due-process psychological-stress Whether Joseph Garcia's extended stay on Texas' death row for nearly 16 years has resulted in his suffering additional severe psychological stress tha…
18-6891 Joseph C. Garcia v. Texas Texas 2018-11-30 Denied IFP 8th-amendment capital-punishment civil-rights criminal-intent cruel-and-unusual-punishment culpability death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment intent-to-kill mens-rea non-triggerman state-execution Whether the Eighth Amendment now forbids a State from executing a person when there is no evidence that he killed or intended to kill another person
18-6869 Mario Andrette McNeill v. North Carolina North Carolina 2018-11-29 Denied IFP capital-defendant capital-defendant-instructions capital-punishment counsel counsel-decision-making cruel-and-unusual-punishment eighth-amendment mitigating-evidence right-to-counsel sixth-amendment Whether the Sixth Amendment right to counsel and the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment allow a state to give binding force …
18-6843 James Milton Dailey v. Florida Florida 2018-11-27 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-error hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-v-arizona supremacy-clause Does the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity decision violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments?
18-697 Tony Von Carruthers v. Tony Mays, Warden Sixth Circuit 2018-11-27 Denied argersinger-v-hamlin capital-case capital-punishment criminal-defendant criminal-procedure due-process faretta-v-california pro-se-representation right-to-counsel sixth-amendment waiver Does depriving a criminal defendant of trial counsel against his will, without at least the warnings and voluntary waiver required by Faretta, violate…
18-6818 Ruben Rangel v. California California 2018-11-26 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-amendments death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment jury-determination jury-trial sentencing Does California's death penalty statute violate the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments by failing to meaningfully narrow the class of dea…
18-679 Erick Virgil Hall v. Idaho Idaho 2018-11-23 Denied Amici (1) aggravating-circumstances capital-punishment capital-sentencing constitutional-standards death-penalty felony-murder heinous-atrocious-cruel jury-sentencing narrowing-requirement propensity-to-commit-murder sentencing-guidance utter-disregard Whether certain of the 'aggravating circumstances' used by Idaho to determine whether a defendant may be sentenced to death—those that ask whether the…
18-6766 David Gulbrandson v. Charles L. Ryan, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections Ninth Circuit 2018-11-21 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-punishment-sentencing death-penalty eighth-amendment habeas-corpus procedural-default procedural-ruling second-in-time-petition statutory-aggravating-factors statutory-aggravator successive-petitions Whether reasonable jurists would debate the correctness of the district court's procedural ruling that Gulbrandson's second-in-time § 2254 petition wa…
18-6776 Duane Eugene Owen v. Florida Florida 2018-11-21 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection jury-trial retroactivity state-court Whether the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of Equal Protection and the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of capricious capital sentencing impose limits…
18-6727 John C. Stojetz v. Tim Shoop, Warden Sixth Circuit 2018-11-19 Denied IFP brady-violation capital-punishment due-process exculpatory-evidence ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel medical-records mitigation prosecutorial-misconduct ptsd racial-bias Has the Constitutional right to due process of law been violated where a prosecutor withholds prison medical records that substantiate a capital defen…
18-6708 Clifford D. Williams v. Ohio Ohio 2018-11-15 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment judge-sentencing jury-trial jury-verdict sentencing-phase sixth-amendment spaziano-v-florida Is Ohio's death penalty scheme unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida?
18-6582 Kareem Glass v. Melissa Hainsworth, Superintendent, State Correctional Institution at Somerset Third Circuit 2018-11-06 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-procedure appellate-rights capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty due-process ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-circumstances penalty-phase sixth-amendment waiver waiver-of-rights where-capital-counsel-induced-petitioner-into-a-waiver
18-6588 Lesley Eugene Warren v. Edward Thomas, Warden Fourth Circuit 2018-11-06 Denied IFP capital-punishment character-evidence circuit-split civil-rights death-penalty due-process future-dangerousness parole parole-ineligibility prosecutorial-misconduct sentencing sentencing-procedure simmons-v-south-carolina Is it an unreasonable application of Simmons v. South Carolina for a State court to deny a parole ineligibility instruction where the prosecution repe…
18-6532 Austin Myers v. Ohio Ohio 2018-11-01 Denied IFP capital-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-statute eighth-amendment judge-sentencing judicial-sentencing jury-trial jury-verdict sixth-amendment spaziano-v-florida Did Hurst v. Florida render Ohio's death penalty scheme unconstitutional?
18-6378 Robert Ira Peede v. Florida Florida 2018-10-18 Denied IFP arbitrary-cutoff capital-murder capital-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-retroactivity due-process eighth-amendment evolving-standards-of-decency fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity retroactivity Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity rule as to violations pursuant to Hurst v. Florida violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendm…
18-6298 Robert Alan Fratta v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2018-10-11 Denied Relisted (2)IFP capital-punishment civil-rights constitutional-rights constructive-amendment due-process fatal-variance habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jackson-review miscarriage-of-justice pro-se-representation right-to-counsel standing sufficiency-of-evidence Is it unconstitutional for a U.S. Court of Appeals to accept, sanction or make decisions that allow state courts to refuse to accept meritorious issue…
18-443 Bobby James Moore v. Texas Texas 2018-10-09 Denied Amici (3)Relisted (5) capital-punishment clinical-criteria clinical-standards criminal-procedure eighth-amendment intellectual-disability lay-stereotypes medical-standards moore-v-texas Whether the Eighth Amendment and this Court's decision in Moore v. Texas, 137 S. Ct. 1039 (2017) prohibit relying on non-clinical criteria and lay ste…
18-6252 Hersie Wesson v. Ohio Ohio 2018-10-09 Denied IFP capital-defendant capital-punishment constitutional-right death-penalty due-process intellectual-disability opportunity-to-be-heard procedural-due-process state-courts threshold-showing When a capital defendant can make a substantial threshold showing of intellectual disability, are the state courts constitutionally required to provid…
18-6207 Manuel Ernesto Paiz Guevara v. United States Fourth Circuit 2018-10-03 Denied Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP abuse-of-discretion capital-crime capital-punishment criminal-procedure death-penalty eighth-amendment fourth-circuit-split mandatory-sentencing miller-v-alabama right-to-counsel sentencing sentencing-discretion statutory-interpretation Whether the Fourth Circuit erred in denying the defendant's request for two attorneys in a capital case
18-6167 Ronald Wayne Clark, Jr. v. Florida Florida 2018-10-02 Denied IFP capital-case capital-case,eighth-amendment,cruel-and-unusual-pu capital-punishment codefendant-culpability codefendants cruel-and-unusual-punishment cruel-unusual-punishment death-penalty death-sentence eighth-amendment proportionality-review reliability-of-death-sentence Whether an assessment of the relative culpability of codefendants in a capital case in Florida is required pursuant to the Eighth Amendment in order t…
18-6182 Randolph Moore v. Nevada, et al. Nevada 2018-10-02 Denied IFP brady-v-maryland capital-murder capital-punishment crucial-evidence due-process fair-trial habeas-corpus outcome-of-trial prosecutorial-misconduct withheld-evidence witness-tampering Whether the Brady v. Maryland standard requires a defendant to prove that withheld evidence is crucial, would affect the outcome, or affirmatively und…
18-6110 Mikal Mahdi v. South Carolina South Carolina 2018-09-28 Denied IFP appointment-of-counsel capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-procedure death-penalty death-sentence habeas-corpus indigent-counsel ineffective-assistance-of-counsel post-conviction-relief procedural-history right-to-counsel sixth-amendment south-carolina-supreme-court state-court Whether the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel was violated when the state post-conviction court failed to appoint counsel for M…
18-6075 Daniel Clate Acker v. Texas Texas 2018-09-21 Denied IFP adversarial-testing capital-punishment criminal-justice-system-legitimacy criminal-liability death-penalty due-process fairness false-theory-of-liability miscarriage-of-justice post-conviction-review Whether due process requires a state post-conviction review process when a state has repudiated a false theory of criminal liability on which it based…
18-6059 Cedric Carter v. Ohio Ohio 2018-09-20 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty eighth-amendment judge-sentencing jury-trial jury-verdict sentencing-phase sixth-amendment spaziano-v-florida Is Ohio's death penalty scheme unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida?
18-5892 Andre Jackson v. Ohio Ohio 2018-09-06 Denied IFP 6th-amendment 8th-amendment capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment judge-sentencing judicial-sentencing jury-recommendation jury-sentencing jury-trial sixth-amendment Is Ohio's death penalty scheme unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida?
18-5793 Ray Lamar Johnston v. Florida Florida 2018-08-28 Denied Relisted (4)IFP caldwell-v-mississippi capital-punishment capital-punishment-system death-penalty due-process equal-protection florida harmless-error hurst-relief hurst-v-florida jury-trial sixth-amendment Whether Florida's application of harmless error review to a unanimous jury recommendation of death violates the Sixth Amendment right to jury trial as…
18-5641 Pressley Bernard Alston v. Florida, et al. Florida 2018-08-17 Denied IFP 8th-amendment,14th-amendment,capital-punishment,hu capital-defendant capital-punishment Does the partial retroactivity formula designed by Does the partial retroactivity formula employed fo due-process,federal-constitutional-rights,post-con federal-constitutional-violations hurst-v-florida montgomery-v-louisiana montgomery-v-louisiana,retroactivity,sentencing,su post-conviction-review retroactivity state-law-waiver supremacy-clause Does a state capital defendant's state-law waiver of state post-conviction review automatically and forever preclude the defendant from seeking relief…
18-5597 David E. Miller v. Tony Mays, Warden Sixth Circuit 2018-08-15 Denied IFP buck-v-davis capital-punishment civil-rights due-process federal-civil-procedure ineffective-assistance-counsel ineffective-assistance-of-counsel martinez-v-ryan rule-60b6 trevino-v-thaler Whether the change in law announced in Martinez and Trevino, when coupled with a particularly substantial deprivation of a capital defendant's right t…
18-5517 Mike Peter Gallardo v. Arizona Arizona 2018-08-08 Denied IFP capital-jury capital-punishment citizen-jurors due-process eighth-amendment fair-cross-section fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance jury-composition sixth-amendment Whether seating an alien capital juror violated the petitioner's Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights
18-5434 Troy Victorino v. Florida Florida 2018-08-02 Denied IFP 14th-amendment 5th-amendment capital-punishment criminal-punishment death-penalty double-jeopardy due-process ex-post-facto fifth-amendment florida-supreme-court fourteenth-amendment jury-sentencing resentencing statutory-interpretation Does the automatic-resentencing-to-life provision of Florida Statutes Section 775.082(2) violate due-process, double-jeopardy, ex-post-facto
18-5442 Craig Alan Wall, Sr. v. Florida Florida 2018-08-02 Denied Relisted (2)IFP capital-punishment constitutional-rights crawford-standard crawford-v-washington due-process fifth-amendment forced-appeal fourteenth-amendment hearsay-exception separation-of-powers sixth-amendment unreasonable-determination-of-facts Whether Florida Statute § 90.804(2)(f) violates the Sixth Amendment and Due Process rights of defendants, whether a state court can force a defendant …
18-5402 Thomas Dewey Pope v. Florida Florida 2018-07-31 Denied IFP 8th-amendment caldwell-v-mississippi capital-punishment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection hurst-v-florida hurst-v-state montgomery-v-louisiana retroactivity supremacy-clause Does the Florida Supreme Court's determination that the jury findings required by Hurst v. Florida and Hurst v. State enhance the reliability of decis…
18-5415 Louis B. Gaskin v. Florida Florida 2018-07-31 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-sentence due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection jury-trial retroactivity unconventional-rules Whether the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of Equal Protection and the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of capricious capital sentencing impose limits…
18-5396 Calvin McMillan v. Alabama Alabama 2018-07-30 Denied IFP appearance-of-bias campaign-contributions caperton-v-massey capital-punishment constitutional-standard due-process ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-bias judicial-recusal post-conviction Can a state court require a petitioner to establish actual, subjective bias to obtain judicial recusal even though this Court has held that the consti…
18-5375 Christopher Henriquez v. California California 2018-07-27 Denied IFP aggravating-factors burden-of-proof capital-punishment constitutional-rights criminal-sentencing death-penalty due-process equal-protection jury-trial mitigating-circumstances reasonable-doubt Whether the California death penalty scheme violates the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments
18-5376 Mark Allen Geralds v. Florida Florida 2018-07-27 Denied IFP arbitrary-cutoff capital-murder capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity retroactivity Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity rule as to violations pursuant to Hurst v. Florida violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendm…
18-5352 Paul Anthony Brown v. Florida Florida 2018-07-25 Denied IFP arbitrary-cutoff capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty death-penalty-retroactivity due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity retroactivity Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity rule as to violations pursuant to Hurst v. Florida violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendm…
18-5354 Darryl Brian Barwick v. Florida Florida 2018-07-25 Denied IFP arbitrary-cutoff capital-murder capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity retroactivity Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity rule as to violations pursuant to Hurst v. Florida violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendm…
18-5330 Gregory Alan Kokal v. Julie L. Jones, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Florida 2018-07-24 Denied IFP capital-case capital-case,eighth-amendment,cruel-and-unusual-pu capital-punishment codefendant-culpability codefendants cruel-and-unusual-punishment culpability death-sentence eighth-amendment proportionality-review Whether an assessment of the relative culpability of codefendants in a capital case in Florida is required pursuant to the Eighth Amendment in order t…
18-5278 Christopher Collings v. Missouri Missouri 2018-07-19 Denied IFP capital-punishment culpability deliberation due-process eighth-amendment eighth-amendment-reliability intoxication jury-instructions mens-rea mental-state Whether it violates the Eighth Amendment to instruct a capital jury that they may not consider evidence of the defendant's intoxication at the time of…
18-5240 Roy Lee Ward v. Robert E. Carter, Jr., Commissioner, Indiana Department of Correction, et al. Indiana 2018-07-17 Denied Response WaivedIFP capital-punishment due-process fourteenth-amendment lethal-injection lethal-substances notice prisoner-rights state-execution state-prisoners Whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment entitles condemned state prisoners to notice of the lethal substances a state will use to e…
18-5246 Warren Darrell Rivers v. Texas Texas 2018-07-17 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-punishment-sentencing cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment individualized-sentencing sentencing sentencing-determination Whether prosecution evidence that a capital defendant has been sentenced to death once before in the same case impermissibly undermines the sentencing…
18-5160 Michael Anthony Tanzi v. Florida Florida 2018-07-09 Denied Relisted (5)IFP caldwell-v-mississippi capital-punishment death-penalty due-process eighth-amendment harmless-error hurst-v-florida hurst-violation judicial-procedure per-se-rule supreme-court-precedent Whether the Florida Supreme Court's application of a per se harmless-error rule to violations of Hurst v. Florida in pre-Hurst cases violates the Eigh…
18-34 Pablo San Martin v. Florida Florida 2018-07-05 Denied capital-punishment eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-cutoff-formula ring-v-arizona Whether the retroactivity formula created by the Florida Supreme Court pursuant to Hurst v. Florida violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments
18-5065 Manuel Antonio Rodriguez v. Florida Florida 2018-07-05 Denied IFP caldwell-v-mississippi capital-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-sentencing eighth-amendment furman-v-georgia hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-v-arizona supremacy-clause Whether the Florida Supreme Court's per se harmless-error rule for Hurst errors contravenes the Eighth Amendment
18-5122 Thomas Overton v. Florida Florida 2018-07-05 Denied IFP apprendi-v-new-jersey capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty death-penalty-retroactivity due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-v-arizona supremacy-clause supreme-court Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity approach for Hurst v. Florida and Hurst v. State violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendmen…
18-5091 Kevin Don Foster v. Florida Florida 2018-07-02 Denied IFP apprendi-v-new-jersey capital-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-retroactivity eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida retroactivity ring-v-arizona Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity approach for Hurst relief violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments
18-5037 Richard Eugene Hamilton v. Florida Florida 2018-06-29 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentence capital-sentencing eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-determination retroactivity supremacy-clause Does the Florida Supreme Court's decision limiting the retroactivity of Hurst v. Florida violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments?
18-5051 Samuel Jason Derrick v. Florida Florida 2018-06-29 Denied IFP arbitrary-cutoff capital-murder capital-punishment death-penalty death-penalty-retroactivity due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida jury-unanimity retroactivity sentencing Whether the Florida Supreme Court's partial retroactivity rule as to violations pursuant to Hurst v. Florida violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendm…
18-5054 Brandy Bain Jennings v. Florida Florida 2018-06-29 Denied IFP arbitrary-sentencing capital-punishment capital-sentencing disparate-treatment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment retroactivity Whether the Florida Supreme Court's application of only partial retroactivity of Hurst v. State and Hurst v. Florida violates the Eighth and Fourteent…
18-5012 Ian Deco Lightbourne v. Florida Florida 2018-06-28 Denied IFP capital-punishment capital-sentencing disparate-treatment due-process eighth-amendment equal-protection fourteenth-amendment retroactivity Whether Florida's limited retroactive application of its Eighth Amendment decision in Hurst v. State violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments
18A1200 Robert Joe Long v. Mark S. Inch, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Florida Presumed Complete capital-punishment constitutional-violation death-penalty eighth-amendment execution-stay habeas-corpus Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of a death row inmate based on claims of constitutional violations during the original capital tr…
18A1346 Marion Wilson, Jr. v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Georgia Presumed Complete capital-punishment clemency death-penalty eighth-amendment execution-stay prosecutorial-misconduct Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of a death row inmate based on claims of prosecutorial misconduct and death ineligibility
25A378 Charles Ray Crawford v. Mississippi Mississippi Denied capital-punishment defense-strategy ineffective-assistance retroactivity right-to-counsel sixth-amendment Whether McCoy v. Louisiana established a new constitutional rule or merely applied existing Sixth Amendment principles for determining when counsel's …
24A1261 Richard Gerald Jordan v. Mississippi Mississippi Denied capital-punishment due-process ex-post-facto-clause res-judicata substantive-law successive-petition Whether a state court violates the Ex Post Facto Clause and Due Process Clause by applying procedural bars to preclude review of a capital defendant's…
24A284 Freddie Owens v. Bryan Stirling, et al. Fourth Circuit Denied capital-punishment competency cruel-and-unusual death-penalty eighth-amendment mental-illness Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of a death row inmate with a documented history of severe mental illness that substantially impai…
25A577 Richard Barry Randolph v. Florida, et al. Florida Denied capital-punishment death-penalty eighth-amendment irreparable-harm mental-competency method-of-execution Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of a death row inmate when substantial constitutional questions regarding the method of execution…
24A349 Robert Leslie Roberson III v. Texas Texas Denied actual-innocence capital-punishment changed-science due-process forensic-evidence shaken-baby-syndrome Whether a state court's refusal to review new scientific evidence challenging a capital conviction based on now-discredited forensic theories violates…
24A391 Christopher Collings v. David Vandergriff, Warden Missouri Denied capital-punishment eighth-amendment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance intellectual-disability procedural-default Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of a capital defendant with credible claims of intellectual disability that were not fully adjudi…
24A498 Carey Grayson v. John Q. Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit Denied capital-punishment conscious-suffocation cruel-and-unusual-punishment eighth-amendment execution-method nitrogen-hypoxia Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits executing a prisoner via nitrogen hypoxia in a manner that potentially causes conscious suffocation and superad…