capital-trial

26 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25-6707 Elijah Dwayne Joubert v. Eric Guerrero, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2026-02-03 Pending IFP capital-trial false-testimony federal-law habeas-corpus materiality-burden napue-standard Whether, under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1), a standard that places the burden on the petitioner to prove materiality from the State's knowing elicitation a…
25A684 Jeffrey A. Weisheit v. Ron Neal, Warden Seventh Circuit 2025-12-10 Application capital-trial habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance mental-illness right-to-counsel sixth-amendment Question not identified.
25-385 Charles Ray Crawford v. Mississippi Mississippi 2025-10-02 Denied capital-trial criminal-procedure retroactivity sixth-amendment structural-error teague-rule In McCoy v. Louisiana, 584 U.S. 414 (2018), this Court held that the Sixth Amendment guarantees the defendant the right to personally decide whether t…
25-5241 Clarence Fry v. Timothy Shoop, Warden Sixth Circuit 2025-07-30 Denied IFP capital-trial constitutional-right federal-courts mitigation state-courts waiver I. a. When the undisputed factual record demonstrates the denial of the constitutional right to testify at a capital trial , but the State courts f…
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…
23A1064 Jamie Mills v. John Q. Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2024-05-29 Denied capital-trial due-process false-testimony habeas-corpus plea-agreement prosecutorial-misconduct Whether a defendant's due process rights are violated when the prosecution makes materially false statements about a key witness's plea agreement duri…
23-6738 Ellis Louis Mashburn, Jr. v. John Q. Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2024-02-13 Denied IFP capital-murder capital-trial death-penalty habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mental-illness mitigation-evidence prejudice sixth-amendment strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether a death row inmate is precluded from establishing prejudice from his trial counsel's deficient performance during the penalty phase if his cou…
22-6862 Benjamin Young v. Alabama Alabama 2023-02-24 Denied IFP capital-trial character-evidence criminal-procedure culpability-phase dawson-v-delaware first-amendment fourteenth-amendment gang-membership sentencing-phase Whether the First and Fourteenth Amendment prohibit the introduction of gang membership evidence in the culpability phase of a capital trial
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
22-5731 Jonathan D. Carr v. Kansas Kansas 2022-10-03 Denied IFP capital-trial confrontation-clause criminal-procedure eligibility-phase selection-phase sentencing-phase sixth-amendment witness-confrontation Whether the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause secures an accused's right to confront witnesses against him throughout the sentencing phase of a c…
22-5109 Teddy Brian Sanchez v. Ronald Broomfield, Warden Ninth Circuit 2022-07-15 Denied IFP attorney-error brain-dysfunction capital-sentencing capital-trial circuit-split cumulative-error ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel ninth-circuit penalty-phase prejudice-standard Whether the Ninth Circuit erred in finding that the petitioner's 'organic' brain dysfunction was not enough of a 'red flag' to trigger a duty for tria…
21-7611 John Charles Eichinger v. George Little, Acting Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, et al. Third Circuit 2022-04-13 Denied IFP capital-trial certificate-of-appealability due-process homicide ineffective-assistance-of-counsel plea-bargaining remorse remorse-mitigation right-to-counsel sixth-amendment Did the Third Circuit violate the rule of Hill v. Lockhart and wrongly deny a certificate of appealability on Petitioner's claim that counsel induced …
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…
21-7371 Sherman Collins v. Alabama Alabama 2022-03-15 Denied IFP capital-trial cause-challenge civil-rights due-process fourteenth-amendment juror-bias jury-selection prosecutorial-misconduct prosecutorial-relationship standing Does a trial court's erroneous failure to remove for cause jurors with personal and professional relationships with a prosecuting attorney violate the…
21-1090 James Calvert v. Texas Texas 2022-02-07 Denied capital-trial constitutional-error due-process ineffective-assistance juror-impartiality postconviction-proceedings postconviction-relief presumption-of-innocence shock-cuff state-appeal Where a state's highest criminal court finds constitutional error but holds the record on direct appeal is insufficient to require reversal, does due …
21-6012 Michael Rimmer v. Tennessee Tennessee 2021-10-20 Denied IFP capital-trial confrontation-clause criminal-procedure double-jeopardy due-process fundamental-fairness prosecutorial-misconduct trial-fairness witness-unavailability whether-the-courts-below-erred-by-upholding-the-trial-court's-determination-that-the-only-witness-to-petitioner's-purported-jailhouse-confession-was-u…
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…
20-7605 Cody James Martinez v. Arizona Arizona 2021-03-31 Denied IFP capital-defendant capital-trial cumulative-error due-process ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel pecuniary-gain right-to-counsel statutory-aggravator strickland-standard trial-counsel Whether trial counsel's complete abdication of responsibilities by meeting with a capital defendant for only 1:08 total in 2-4 years preceding trial c…
20-6914 Ryan Clark Petersen v. Alabama Alabama 2021-01-26 Denied IFP buchanan-v-kentucky capital-trial criminal-procedure due-process estelle-v-smith expert-testimony fifth-amendment mental-health-evaluation psychological-evaluation self-incrimination Where a court-appointed mental health expert assures a criminal defendant that the evidence gathered in his psychological evaluation will not be used …
20-6294 Richard L. Sealey v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Eleventh Circuit 2020-11-12 Denied IFP capital-trial continuance continuance-motion due-process ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence penalty-phase prejudice trial-court-discretion Whether the denial of a defense motion for a continuance during the penalty phase of a capital trial violates due process
20-507 Tony Mays, Warden v. Anthony Darrell Dugard Hines Sixth Circuit 2020-10-16 Judgment Issued Relisted (4) antiterrorism-act antiterrorism-and-effective-death-penalty-act capital-trial death-penalty habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel sixth-circuit sixth-circuit-review strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether the Sixth Circuit's decision conflicts with the Court's precedents governing claims of ineffective assistance of counsel under the Antiterrori…
20-5221 Arthur James Martin v. Florida Florida 2020-07-30 Denied IFP brady-violation capital-trial criminal-procedure cumulative-error cumulative-error-analysis giglio-violation ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel post-conviction-relief strickland-test trial-counsel Whether trial counsel's failure to investigate and present evidence that significantly undermines the State's case is deficient performance that resul…
19-5921 Lisa M. Montgomery v. United States Eighth Circuit 2019-09-12 Denied Amici (2)IFP attorney-client-relationship capital-case capital-trial due-process fifth-amendment in-chambers learned-counsel notice-requirement right-to-counsel sixth-amendment termination-of-counsel In a federal capital trial case, may a federal district court judge, consistent with the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, terminate the appointment of lear…
19-5122 David Alan Westerfield v. California California 2019-07-09 Denied IFP capital-trial de-novo-review due-process due-process-review fourth-amendment independent-review jury-sequestration polygraph-evidence pretrial-publicity probable-cause sheppard-v-maxwell standard-of-review Does the mandate announced in Sheppard v. Maxwell apply to the appellate assessment of the trial court's rejection of jury sequestration?
18-8087 Joseph Michael Kurz v. Louisiana Louisiana 2019-02-25 Denied Response WaivedIFP burden-of-proof capital-trial criminal-procedure due-process harmless-error judicial-discretion prosecutorial-misconduct sentencing sentencing-error standard-of-review statute-of-limitations time-limitations witness-testimony Whether the district court erred in allowing the State to prosecute the defendant for an allegation that the time limitations had expired