essential-elements
18 cases — ← All topics
| Case | Title | Lower Court | Docketed | Status | Flags | Tags | Question Presented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-7349 | Reymundo Arredondo v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2025-06-03 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | circuit-split constructive-amendment criminal-procedure essential-elements indictment statutory-interpretation | When a criminal offense can be committed in a variety of ways, does a prosecutor constructively amend an indictment by altering the essential elements… |
| 24-7107 | Brandon A. Dunkleberger v. Illinois | Illinois | 2025-05-01 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements guilty-plea judicial-precedent plea-validity | Is Illinois bound by this Court's rule that a guilty plea is not valid when the defendant is not informed of the essential elements of the crime? |
| 23-5390 | Neeraj Chopra v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2023-08-18 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constructive-amendment criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements indictment indictment-modification jury-instruction jury-instructions sexual-assault sexual-contact statutory-interpretation | Whether a jury instruction constructively amends an indictment by modifying the essential elements of the offense charged |
| 23-5031 | Marc Anthony Hill v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2023-07-05 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | advance-knowledge apprendi-precedent circuit-court-interpretation criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements fifth-amendment four-corner-rule jury-findings sentencing statutory-interpretation supreme-court | Is Apprendi v. New Jersey still good law? |
| 22-7731 | Roy Lee Jones, Jr. v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2023-06-08 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | burden-of-proof controlled-substances criminal-procedure drug-conspiracy due-process essential-elements evidence fifth-circuit-precedent jury-instructions sentencing sentencing-issue standard-of-proof | Did the Fifth Circuit err when it 're-branded' a failure to prove an essential element of the government's methamphetamine case against Mr. Jones beyo… |
| 22-5472 | Aaron Michael Shamo v. United States | Tenth Circuit | 2022-08-30 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | anti-drug-abuse-act chemical-compound chemical-compounds controlled-substance counsel-waiver cruel-and-unusual-punishment drug-distribution drug-sentencing eighth-amendment essential-elements fentanyl statutory-interpretation | Whether Petitioner's counsel's actions constituted a waiver or forfeiture of the argument that the government failed to prove Petitioner distributed t… |
| 21-5286 | Gerald M. Calmese v. Arizona | Arizona | 2021-08-04 | Denied | IFP | conviction criminal-indictment double-jeopardy due-process essential-elements fraudulent-schemes indictment legal-sufficiency multiplicity sentencing-error | Is there legally sufficient evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt the required element for fraudulent schemes for which the petitioner was c… |
| 21-5151 | Kenan Ivery v. Ohio | Ohio | 2021-07-21 | Denied | IFP | aggravated-murder criminal-conviction due-process essential-elements insufficient-evidence jury-removal murder reasonable-doubt trial-procedure | Is a petitioner denied due process of law when he is convicted for offenses of which there was insufficient evidence presented at trial to have found … |
| 20-7899 | Christopher Middleton v. Georgia | Georgia | 2021-04-30 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements harmless-error indictment-sufficiency jury-disbelief self-defense standard-of-review sufficiency-of-evidence | Whether a finding of guilt can be predicated on the jury's disbelief of a defendant's statements where the defendant does not testify and the State fa… |
| 20-7761 | Andrew Indelicato Peterson v. S. Butler, Warden | Sixth Circuit | 2021-04-14 | Denied | IFP | conviction-challenge criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements evidence-admissibility felon-in-possession knowledge-of-status plea-agreement prior-conviction prior-misconduct sentencing statutory-interpretation | Whether a defendant who has not served over a year in prison can assume his prior conviction was vacated for purposes of a felon-in-possession charge |
| 20-6610 | Luis Sanabria-Robreno v. United States | Third Circuit | 2020-12-11 | Denied | Relisted (2)IFP | 18-usc-922g constitutional-validity criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements firearm-possession guilty-plea plea-bargaining rehaif-v-united-states | When defendants plead guilty, can a court treat a plea as constitutionally valid when it was entered without knowledge of an offense element? |
| 20-5499 | Savannah Rolle v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2020-08-26 | Denied | Relisted (3)IFP | criminal-procedure due-process essential-elements guilty-plea plea-bargaining rehaif-precedent rehaif-v-united-states vacatur | Whether a defendant's guilty plea entered before Rehaif v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2020), in which the defendant was not advised of the essent… |
| 19-8456 | Thomas Hopes v. United States | Third Circuit | 2020-05-14 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | circuit-split essential-elements evidence-standard federal-rules-of-evidence helpfulness law-enforcement-witnesses lay-opinion-testimony personal-perception rule-701 usurping-jury-role | Whether the personal perception and helpfulness requirements of Rule 701 are satisfied where the government's law enforcement witnesses provide lay op… |
| 19-7273 | Pablo Rodriguez-Palomino v. Illinois | Illinois | 2020-01-15 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | appellate-review burden-of-proof criminal-procedure criminal-sexual-assault due-process essential-elements fourteenth-amendment jackson-v-virginia rational-trier-of-fact reasonable-doubt standard-of-review state-evidence sufficiency-of-evidence | Whether the standard to be applied by state courts when a defendant claims that the evidence is insufficient to convict is whether any rational trier … |
| 19-7251 | William McNeal v. Florida | Florida | 2020-01-10 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | Apprendi apprendi-standard apprendi-v-new-jersey criminal-law criminal-procedure degree-classification due-process essential-element essential-elements jury-trial reclassification sentencing sentencing-enhancement statutory-interpretation | Whether Florida's interpretation of 'essential element' is contrary to Apprendi v. New Jersey |
| 19-5252 | Jonathan Thomas Wright v. West Virginia | West Virginia | 2019-07-19 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | arraignment criminal-complaint de-novo-appeal essential-elements hearsay-doctrine oath personal-knowledge physical-evidence police-officer | Whether it is a violation of the Hearsay Doctrine for one police officer coming on duty who has no personal knowledge of the events which occurred to … |
| 18-8773 | Emmanuely Germain v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-04-10 | Denied | IFP | criminal-procedure criminal-procedure-error essential-elements harmless-error jurisdiction jury-instructions statutory-interpretation sufficiency-of-evidence uncharged-offense venue venue-error | Is the omission of an essential element of an offense from jury instructions harmless if there is sufficient evidence to support a conviction of a rel… |
| 18-5115 | Stanley Lee Hayward v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2018-07-05 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | aggravated-assault crime-of-violence due-process equal-protection essential-elements habeas-corpus sentencing-guidelines statute | Whether the lower tribunal abused its discretion in denying petitioner the right to due process and equal protection of law in holding that his prior … |