death-sentence

26 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25A215 Gary David Green v. Texas Texas 2025-08-22 Presumed Complete certiorari death-row death-sentence due-process indigent-defendant texas-criminal-appeals Whether the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals' affirmance of a death sentence violated the defendant's constitutional rights to due process and effectiv…
24A513 Tony Barksdale v. Steve T. Marshall, Attorney General of Alabama, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2024-11-26 Presumed Complete capital-murder certificate-of-appealability death-sentence eleventh-circuit federal-review habeas-corpus Whether the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals correctly applied federal habeas corpus standards in denying relief to a death-sentenced inmate challeng…
24-5713 Hector Acosta v. Texas Texas 2024-10-07 Denied IFP death-sentence due-process equal-protection fourteenth-amendment national-origin race-discrimination Whether the State's invocation of a defendant's nationality and ethnicity to obtain a death sentence violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Cla…
24A194 Hector Acosta v. Texas Texas 2024-08-22 Presumed Complete capital-murder death-sentence equal-protection fourteenth-amendment jury-selection racial-bias Whether racial bias in the jury selection process violated the defendant's Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection in a capital murder case
23A1165 Harry Franklin Phillips v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2024-06-27 Presumed Complete circuit-court death-sentence federal-review first-degree-murder habeas-corpus post-conviction-relief Whether the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals correctly applied the standard for habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in denying Mr. Phillips' …
23A945 Clarence Mack v. Margaret Bradshaw, Warden Sixth Circuit 2024-04-22 Presumed Complete capital-case certificate-of-appealability constitutional-claims death-sentence habeas-corpus sixth-circuit Whether the Sixth Circuit applied the correct standard for granting habeas corpus relief in a capital case involving multiple constitutional claims
23-5630 Jack R. Sliney v. Florida Florida 2023-09-21 Denied Relisted (2)IFP 14th-amendment 8th-amendment age-of-defendant death-penalty death-sentence due-process eighth-amendment evidentiary-hearing fourteenth-amendment juvenile-offenders Whether Florida may impose a death sentence upon an individual under 21
22-490 Lydell Chestnut, Deputy Warden v. Quincy J. Allen Fourth Circuit 2022-11-23 Denied Amici (1)Relisted (3) aedpa death-penalty death-sentence eating-disorder federal-habeas fourth-circuit-review mental-health mental-health-evidence schizophrenia sentencing-consideration state-post-conviction statutory-limitations Did the Fourth Circuit violate 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) limitations and needlessly overturn a state death sentence on an insubstantial premise that Allen's…
21-6590 Terry Lynn King v. Tennessee Tennessee 2021-12-14 Denied IFP 8th-amendment categorical-approach constitutional-vagueness death-penalty death-sentence due-process elements-based-approach johnson-precedent prior-conviction prior-violent-felony sentencing-aggravator vagueness Is the 'prior violent felony conviction' aggravating factor in Tennessee's death penalty statutes unconstitutional under Johnson v. United States, 135…
20-1568 Teresa Miller v. United States Fourth Circuit 2021-05-12 Denied Response Waived appellate-review constitutional-rights criminal-procedure death-penalty death-sentence due-process judicial-procedure judicial-review Whether the court's decision to order the defendant to a death sentence was necessary to prevent review of their conduct or actions, and whether a tra…
20-7930 Oscar Smith v. Tennessee Tennessee 2021-05-05 Denied IFP death-penalty death-sentence due-process fair-trial fundamental-rights juror-bias juror-misconduct procedural-rules state-court-proceedings Whether a state court violates the federal due process rights of a death-sentenced prisoner who has asserted a colorable claim of juror bias and/or mi…
20-5954 Meryl S. McDonald v. Florida Florida 2020-10-08 Denied IFP criminal-procedure death-penalty death-sentence due-process equal-protection fourteenth-amendment post-conviction postconviction-counsel pro-se-filing right-to-counsel Whether rule 3.851(b)(6)&(i) of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure is unconstitutional and violates the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses …
20-5767 William Emmett LeCroy, Jr. v. United States Eleventh Circuit 2020-09-22 Denied IFP all-writs-act death-sentence district-court-discretion execution-date exigent-circumstances federal-district-court federal-procedure injunction judicial-modification stay-of-execution May a federal district court reset or modify an execution date for a federally death-sentenced inmate in order to manage unforeseen exigent circumstan…
20-5766 Christopher Andre Vialva v. United States Fifth Circuit 2020-09-21 Denied IFP attorney-general-power death-penalty death-sentence execution-procedures federal-courts federal-death-penalty-act federal-law judicial-precedent state-law state-law-implementation What law governs a federal court's implementation of a death sentence?
19-8742 Harold Wayne Nichols v. Tennessee Tennessee 2020-06-18 Denied IFP arbitrary-and-capricious death-penalty death-sentence eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment judicial-override prior-felony-aggravator settlement-agreement vagueness-doctrine Does the judicial override of a life sentence settlement agreement result in an arbitrary and capricious death sentence in violation of the Eighth and…
19-6567 Danny Lee Hill v. Ohio Ohio 2019-11-08 Denied IFP bite-mark-evidence constitutional-rights conviction death-penalty death-sentence due-process expert-testimony fair-trial habeas-corpus scientific-evidence Whether a murder conviction and death sentence based on now recognized debunked unscientific evidence violates a petitioner's constitutional rights to…
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
18-9117 Scotty Garnell Morrow v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Georgia 2019-05-02 Denied IFP death-penalty death-sentence due-process eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment hurst-v-florida judicial-fact-finding jury-trial jury-unanimity ring-v-arizona sentencing sixth-amendment Does a death sentence imposed by a judge who made fact-findings not made unanimously by the jury who recommended a death sentence comport with Hurst a…
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?
18-8052 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…
18-7540 David Dewayne Riley v. Alabama Alabama 2019-01-24 Denied IFP capital-post-conviction-proceedings capital-proceedings collateral-review death-penalty death-sentence effective-assistance-of-counsel ineffective-assistance martinez-v-ryan murray-v-giarratano post-conviction-counsel precedent state-court Should this Court revisit its precedent to consider whether death-sentenced inmates are entitled to the effective assistance of counsel on initial col…
18-6902 Scott Mansfield v. Florida Florida 2018-12-03 Denied IFP criminal-conviction criminal-procedure death-penalty death-sentence due-process fact-finding findings-of-fact jury-findings jury-instructions notice procedural-due-process sentencing unnoticed-defendant Whether a conviction and death sentence may stand where a jury made no specific findings of fact that subjected an unnoticed individual to conviction …
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…
18-6110 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…
18-5415 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…
18-5330 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…