first-degree-murder
66 cases — ← All topics
| Case | Title | Lower Court | Docketed | Status | Flags | Tags | Question Presented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-6883 | Francis James Acebo, Jr. v. United States | Tenth Circuit | 2026-02-24 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-procedure evidentiary-notice-requirement federal-rules-of-evidence first-degree-murder reverse-404b self-defense | Mr. Acebo was tried for First Degree Murder (and other offenses) in connection with the shooting death of Derek Pappan. He asserted the defense of sel… |
| 25-5920 | Donald Otis Williams v. Florida | Florida | 2025-10-21 | Denied | IFP | aggravating-factors constitutional-challenge death-penalty first-degree-murder legislative-expansion proportionality-review | Whether the Florida Legislature's expansion of the applicability of our statute's "aggravating factors" requirements, Section 921.141(6), Florida Stat… |
| 25-5458 | Andrew Jackson McCauley, Jr. v. West Virginia | West Virginia | 2025-08-25 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | change-of-venue child-abuse first-degree-murder human-remains k-9-testimony motion-for-directed-verdict | Question I). Did the trial court commit reversible error by denying Petitioner's Motion for Change of Venue? Question II). Did the trial court commit… |
| 24-6584 | Colton Bagola v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2025-02-18 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | circuit-split crime-of-violence federal-law first-degree-murder force-clause statutory-interpretation | 1. Whether first-degree murder, under 18 U.S.C. § 1, qualifies as a "crime of violence" under the force clause in 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(A). |
| 24-6279 | Dickens Etienne v. Michelle Edmark, Warden | First Circuit | 2025-01-13 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | brady-disclosure exculpatory-evidence first-degree-murder habeas-corpus prosecutorial-misconduct self-defense | Where there was suppressed exculpatory evidence, in the form of a proffer letter demonstrating that a key prosecution witness who provided significant… |
| 24-6003 | Sydni Frazier v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2024-11-20 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-defendant first-degree-murder jury-trial predicate-offense sixth-amendment unanimous-verdict | Whether a criminal defendant's right to a jury trial under the Sixth Amendment is violated when the trial judge does not instruct the jury that it mus… |
| 24-5294 | Tommy J. May v. Kansas | Kansas | 2024-08-09 | Denied | IFP | criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder jury-instruction lesser-included-offense voluntary-manslaughter | Whether Tommy T. May was entitled to a jury instruction on the lesser offense of attempted voluntary manslaughter on the attempted first-degree murder… |
| 24-5139 | Lamar McKay v. Jeff Tanner, Warden | Sixth Circuit | 2024-07-25 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-rights directed-verdict due-process first-degree-murder insufficient-evidence jury-verdict murder premeditation reasonable-doubt | I. WHERE THE TRIAL COURT DENIED PETITIONER, LAMAR LORENZO MCKAYS MOTION FOR A DIRECTED VERDICT ON FIRST DEGREE MURDER WHERE THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED WAS… |
| 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 | Question not identified. | |
| 23A1164 | Charles Grover Brant v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. | Eleventh Circuit | 2024-06-27 | Presumed Complete | certificate-of-appealability death-penalty eleventh-circuit first-degree-murder habeas-corpus post-conviction | Question not identified. | |
| 23-7727 | Everett G. Miller v. Florida | Florida | 2024-06-14 | Denied | IFP | aggravating-factor constitutional-challenge constitutional-law cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty due-process first-degree-murder florida-supreme-court sentencing-statute | Whether the Florida Supreme Court's expansion of the applicability of our statute's aggravating factor, Section 921.141(5)(i), i.e., the murder was co… |
| 23-7632 | Cordero Passley v. United States | Second Circuit | 2024-06-04 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-law criminal-statute deliberate-intent deliberation first-degree-murder malicious-conduct mens-rea premeditation second-degree-murder willful-killing | Whether, for a defendant to commit a "willful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated killing" that constitutes first degree murder (as opposed to se… |
| 23-7343 | Dalevonte D. Hearn v. Illinois | Illinois | 2024-04-30 | Denied | IFP | civil-rights constitutional-rights criminal-procedure double-jeopardy due-process first-degree-murder ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-trial mistrial sentencing trial-rights | ^j) T$ Xv LaM^L.I Thai An American OH'Zen &f Puntsbpcf Tor £* WS>^ f2ic^h To A Turq . (Jkj IsrH 6nf /M one Cr^e you \SheU 'Jour AcHonS rn^j l4oi*f I… |
| 23-6599 | Devon Blevins v. United States | Tenth Circuit | 2024-01-29 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 18-usc-1 appellate-review criminal-conviction criminal-procedure first-degree-murder insufficiency-of-evidence jackson-v-virginia standard-of-review sufficiency-of-evidence | Whether the court of appeals failed to correctly apply the standard of review for claims of insufficiency of evidence to support conviction of a crime… |
| 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… |
| 23-6000 | Tyler Catlin Borg v. California | California | 2023-11-15 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-due-process criminal-law criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder intent jury-instructions lying-in-wait murder-intent | 1. Can a person be guilty of 1st degree murder without intent to kill or injure? 2. Does CALCRIM 521 unconstitutionally omit the intent element of fi… |
| 23-5994 | James Jordan McClain v. Tammy Campbell, Warden | Ninth Circuit | 2023-11-13 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | brady-violation equitable-tolling first-degree-murder habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance prosecutorial-misconduct second-degree-murder self-defense voluntary-manslaughter | 1. In assessing whether extraordinary circumstances stood in a petitioner's path for equitable-tolling purposes, do those circumstances need to make e… |
| 22-7124 | Ricky Lee Scott v. Dexter Payne, Director, Arkansas Division of Correction | Arkansas | 2023-03-28 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-violation due-process first-degree-murder jury-instructions life-imprisonment state-procedural-default trial-error waiver | WHETHER PETITIONER SCOTT'S RIGHT TO DUE PROCESS OF LAW WAS VIOLATED WHEN HE WAS CONVICTED IN A JURY TRIAL OF FIRST-DEGREE MURDER AND SENTENCED TO LIFE… |
| 22-7012 | Lionel Jericho McCoy v. California | California | 2023-03-15 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | charging-document common-law common-law-pleading criminal-charging due-process first-degree-murder notice notice-requirements sentencing-enhancement sixth-amendment | Does the 1883 rule set forth in People v. Soto, 63 Cal. 165 (1883) — that facts which expose a defendant to increased punishment need not be charged i… |
| 22-6418 | Christopher Brian Cosimano v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2022-12-29 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | appeals crime-of-violence criminal-law due-process eleventh-circuit federal-criminal-law federal-sentencing first-degree-murder omission-liability statutory-interpretation violent-crime | Whether the Eleventh Circuit erred by finding that Florida's First-Degree Premeditated Murder Statute is categorically a crime of violence for purpose… |
| 22-6288 | Mangwiro Sadiki-Yisrael v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2022-12-13 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | base-offense-level first-degree-murder guilty-plea mens-rea rehaif-v-united-states rico-conspiracy sentencing-guidelines statutory-interpretation statutory-max | Whether in a RICO conspiracy case the government is required to prove a defendant's mens rea and knowledge of first-degree murder to establish the sta… |
| 22-6132 | Michael Dominick Mencher v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2022-11-22 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 8th-amendment categorical-approach crime-of-violence criminal-law due-process federal-criminal-law federal-sentencing first-degree-murder sentencing-enhancement statutory-interpretation violent-crime | Whether Florida's First-Degree Premeditated Murder Statute is categorically a crime of violence for purposes of 18 U.S.C.§ 924(C)? |
| 22-6061 | Kyle Watkins v. Sean Medeiros, Superintendent, Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk | First Circuit | 2022-11-15 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | brady-v-maryland brady-violation constitutional-rights cumulative-effect due-process first-degree-murder habeas habeas-corpus law-enforcement law-enforcement-practices prejudice prosecutorial-misconduct | In a habeas case involving a first degree murder conviction, whether a Court can construe Brady's prejudice prong so strictly that it becomes, in effe… |
| 22-5982 | Richard Allen Jackson v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2022-11-03 | Denied | IFP | categorical-approach crime-of-violence criminal-law divisibility divisibility-analysis federal-statutes felony-murder first-degree-murder schad-v-arizona statutory-interpretation violent-crime | 1. Is federal first-degree murder, 18 U.S.C. § 1(a), which includes felony murder, a crime of violence within the meaning of the force clause of 18 U.… |
| 22-5867 | Monica McCarrick v. Janelle Espinoza, Warden | Ninth Circuit | 2022-10-18 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process evidence first-degree-murder meaningful-defense mental-health paranoid-delusions premeditation trial-court-evidence | 1. Does an objectively unreasonable violation of the Constitutional right to present a meaningful defense occur when a trial court prevents a defendan… |
| 21-7647 | Lloyd Brice v. California | California | 2022-04-19 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | conflict-of-interest due-process fair-trial first-degree-murder ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel motion-for-new-trial right-to-counsel right-to-fair-trial | 1. Did the Supreme Court err in failing to rule that the denial of the Motion for New Trial due to trial counsel's conflict of interest violated Petit… |
| 21-7630 | Mickey Roy Anderson, Sr. v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2022-04-15 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | appellate-procedure appellate-split criminal-law deliberation first-degree-murder mens-rea premeditation | I. Whether this Court should resolve the split in the courts of appeal as to whether a mere matter of seconds suffice as premeditation for first degre… |
| 21-7297 | Jaime B. Garcia v. Warren L. Montgomery, Warden | Ninth Circuit | 2022-03-07 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | certificate-of-appealability criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder habeas-corpus jury-instructions legal-theory prosecutorial-concession reasonable-jurists standard-of-review | Because the appellate court must issue a certificate of appealability ("COA") when the issue is debatable among jurists of reason, should the Ninth Ci… |
| 21-6851 | Joel Quiles v. Massachusetts | Massachusetts | 2022-01-14 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acquittal constitutional-rights criminal-conviction double-jeopardy due-process felony-murder fifth-amendment first-degree-murder trial-procedure | Where the trial judge (1) stated that the defendant is "not guilty of felony murder;" (2) told the jury that their answers to special questions on the… |
| 21-6367 | Dacoby Reshard Wooten v. Florida | Florida | 2021-11-22 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | alternative-theories criminal-procedure felony-murder first-degree-murder jury-unanimity premeditated-murder sixth-amendment | Whether the Sixth Amendment requires jury unanimity as to whether a defendant committed premeditated murder or felony murder when the state proceeds o… |
| 21-653 | Harold Lee Harvey, Jr. v. Florida | Florida | 2021-11-03 | Denied | Relisted (2) | autonomy-right counsel-override criminal-defense criminal-procedure defendant-autonomy due-process first-degree-murder ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mccoy-v-louisiana sixth-amendment | Is the Sixth Amendment autonomy right established in McCoy violated where counsel overrode an express agreement with the defendant to not concede guil… |
| 21-5371 | James Roland Henderson v. California | California | 2021-08-13 | Denied | IFP | criminal-intent criminal-procedure evidence-exclusion familial-violence first-degree-murder homicide imperfect-self-defense jury-instructions parental-relationship religious-beliefs self-defense special-circumstances | Question not identified. |
| 21-5166 | Leobardo Valladares v. Craig Koenig, Warden | Ninth Circuit | 2021-07-22 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-procedure cumulative-error due-process evidentiary-hearing first-degree-murder ineffective-assistance jury-instructions reasonable-doubt standard-of-proof sufficiency-of-evidence | I. Did the Prosecution Fail to Prove Beyond a Reasonable Doubt That Valladares Committed First Degree Murder? II. Did Trial Counsel Render Ineffectiv… |
| 20-8251 | Jayrionte Thomas v. West Virginia | West Virginia | 2021-06-08 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-rights criminal-appeal criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance legal-procedure right-to-counsel sixth-amendment west-virginia-law | Whether the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals erred in declining to hold, on direct criminal appeal, that the Petitioner received ineffective ass… |
| 20-8220 | Patrick Alan Vercruysse v. Bryan Morrison, Warden | Sixth Circuit | 2021-06-03 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 14th-amendment constitutional-rights due-process evidence-insufficiency first-degree-murder fourteenth-amendment police-testimony strangulation sufficiency-of-evidence suffocation | SHOULD PETITIONER'S CONVICTION BE VACATED DUE TO INSUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE THAT HE CAUSED THE DEATH OF DOCTOR THOMPSON BY STRANGULATION OR SUFFI… |
| 20-8048 | James Terry Colley, Jr. v. Florida | Florida | 2021-05-17 | Denied | IFP | 14th-amendment 8th-amendment aggravating-factor constitutional-challenge cruel-and-unusual-punishment death-penalty due-process first-degree-murder florida-supreme-court sentencing-scheme | Whether the Florida Supreme Court's expansion of the applicability of our statute's aggravating factor, Section 921.141(5)(i), i.e., the murder was es… |
| 20-1498 | Kory Alexander v. Alex Jones, Acting Warden | Seventh Circuit | 2021-04-27 | Denied | Response Waived | alleyne-precedent appellate-review criminal-elements criminal-procedure double-jeopardy due-process firearm-discharge first-degree-murder jury-instructions lesser-included-offense sentencing sentencing-factor | Kory Alexander was charged by indictment with first degree murder with the specific allegation that he personally discharged a firearm during the comm… |
| 20-1496 | Ali Mohamed Elatrache v. Shane Jackson, Warden | Sixth Circuit | 2021-04-26 | Denied | Response Waived | capital-murder constitutional-rights due-process first-degree-murder jury-instructions jury-trial lesser-included-offenses procedural-default trial-by-jury | I. WHETHER REASONABLE JURISTS COULD DIFFER AS TO WHETHER PETITIONER WAS DEPRIVED OF A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO DUE PROCESS AND TO TRIAL BY JURY WHEN TH… |
| 20-7715 | In Re Richard DeCaro | 2021-04-12 | Denied | Relisted (2)IFP | double-jeopardy ex-post-facto federal-statute first-degree-murder ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mandatory-life second-degree-murder sentencing-guidelines sixth-amendment | 1. Whether the Ex Post Facto Clause is violated where petitioner was sentenced to the amended statute, first degree murder, mandatory life, rather tha… | |
| 20-7700 | Robert Ibarra v. W. L. Montgomery, Acting Warden | Ninth Circuit | 2021-04-09 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | co-defendant-statements co-perpetrator-statements confrontation-clause constitutional-rights criminal-procedure criminal-trial due-process evidence-exclusion first-degree-murder hearsay right-to-defense right-to-present-defense | Does the exclusion of statements by a co-perpetrator that he was solely responsible for the charged murder and the defendant was innocent, including t… |
| 20-7380 | Michael Eugene Wyatt v. John Sutton, Warden | Ninth Circuit | 2021-03-09 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | criminal-elements deliberation first-degree-murder habeas-review ninth-circuit ninth-circuit-precedent precedent premeditation premeditation-and-deliberation state-law sufficiency-of-evidence | Did the Ninth Circuit improperly disregard and/or overlook United State Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit precedent that required it to defer to Califor… |
| 20-7270 | Keith D. Barmore v. Sonja Nicklaus, Warden | Seventh Circuit | 2021-02-26 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process fair-trial first-degree-murder ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel involuntary-manslaughter jury-instructions prosecutorial-misconduct | Whether Petitioner was deprived of his due-process of law, and a fair trial, where the trial court never orally read the jury instructions to the jury… |
| 20-6096 | Dieuseul Brown v. Sonja Nicklaus, Warden | Seventh Circuit | 2020-10-22 | Denied | IFP | criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder independent-and-adequate-state-grounds jury-finding jury-instructions procedural-default second-degree-murder state-grounds | Whether the Petitioner's claim is Procedurally Defaulted under the Independent and Adequate State grounds Doctrine. Whether the lower courts erred in … |
| 20-5403 | Dimarzio Swade Sanchez v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2020-08-19 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | aiding-and-abetting criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder jury-instruction jury-instructions mandatory-life-imprisonment sixth-amendment | The government convicted Dimarzio Swade Sanchez of aiding and abetting in first degree murder, and he was sentenced to a mandatory life imprisonment. … |
| 20-5394 | Eugene Mona, aka Gino v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2020-08-18 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | amendment-782 criminal-sentencing district-court drug-guidelines drug-sentencing-guidelines first-degree-murder motion-denial motion-for-sentence-reduction rico-conspiracy sentence-reduction | Whether the District Court erred in denying Petitioner's Motion For Sentence Reduction pursuant to Amendment 782 to the Drug Sentencing Guidelines b… |
| 20-5334 | Dennis K. Kieren, Jr. v. Aaron D. Ford, Attorney General of Nevada | Ninth Circuit | 2020-08-12 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | certificate-of-appealability constitutional-law constitutional-rule due-process first-degree-murder habeas-corpus retroactivity statutory-interpretation | Whether the Ninth Circuit should have granted a Certificate of Appealability on the district court's denial of Kieren's motion to amend his petition w… |
| 20-5217 | David Kelsey Sparre v. Florida | Florida | 2020-07-30 | Denied | IFP | adolescent-brain-development brain-development constitutional-rights first-degree-murder harmless-error ineffective-assistance-of-counsel juvenile-sentencing prejudice trial-strategy | 1. Whether trial counsel's failure to investigate and execute the defense trial strategy, which would have significantly undermined the State's case f… |
| 19-8771 | Michael A. Risenhoover v. William Muniz, Warden | Ninth Circuit | 2020-06-22 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | 28-years-to-life criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder first-time-offender judicial-discretion murder prior-criminal-history proportionality public-message sentencing sentencing-guidelines | 1) Does SENTENCING A FIRST TIME OFFENDER WITHOUT HAS NO PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY TO 28 YEARS TO LIFE SEND A DANGEROUS MESSAGE TO THE PUBLIC AND FUTURE O… |
| 19-8727 | Felton Ladell Humphries, Jr. v. S. Sherman, Warden | Ninth Circuit | 2020-06-17 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | certificate-of-appealability constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder jury-instruction self-defense voluntary-manslaughter | DOES HUMPHRIES HAVE A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT GUARANTEED BY THE FIFTH, SIXTH, AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO A PROPERLY INSTRUCTED JURY DETERMINING THAT ALL E… |
| 19-8304 | Timothy J. McVay v. Illinois | Illinois | 2020-04-19 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | actus-reus burden-of-proof civil-rights constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder mens-rea presumption-of-innocence | Whether a bench trial conviction of first degree murder by H.U.M Matrix(Homicide by Unspecified Means) can be upheld without benefit of: an eyewitness… |
| 19-7973 | Quincy Chisolm v. Maryland | Maryland | 2020-03-12 | Denied | IFP | appeal civil-rights conspiracy conviction criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder judicial-discretion mitigating-circumstances murder sentencing trial-court-error | in s4/'6'cx-f -fAc_ -fhoAaf £&n 5p*ro-ci>j -fo nouirMr ^ 6>/n/nf4- murder ir\ */Ae fiirs^ deyrc-e, ' cm^Un -b •lUyJ WWe./* -/-Ac- dnio.1 ^oo>rt err //… |
| 19-7879 | Luis D. Rivera-Carrasquillo, et al. v. United States | First Circuit | 2020-03-05 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 18-usc-1959 18-usc-924 categorical-approach crime-of-violence first-degree-murder penal-code plain-error puerto-rico-penal-code racketeering sentencing-enhancement violent-crimes-in-aid-of-racketeering | 1. Is first degree murder, as broadly and idiosyncratically defined under the 2004 Puerto Rico Penal Code: (a) included in the category of "murder" as… |
| 19-7835 | Miguel Rodriguez v. United States | Seventh Circuit | 2020-03-03 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | actual-innocence aedpa aedpa-authorization constitutional-law constitutional-suspension due-process first-degree-murder habeas-corpus preponderance-of-evidence preponderance-of-the-evidence sentencing | 1. Whether the Eleventh Circuit's decision in McCarthan v. Dir. Goodwill Indus. Suncoast-Inc , 851 F.3d 1076 (11th Cir. 2017), is in violation of the … |
| 19-7167 | Harshadkumar Nanjibhai Jadav v. Virginia | Virginia | 2020-01-03 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | appellate-review circumstantial-evidence criminal-procedure evidence-sufficiency first-degree-murder identity-of-defendant identity-of-perpetrator jury-instructions possession-of-weapon premeditation sufficiency-of-evidence | I. Contrary to precedent set in Yeager v. Commonwealth , 16 Va. 433 S.E.2d 248 (1993) and rule 3A:16 of the Rules of App. 761 Supreme Court of Virgini… |
| 19-605 | Arizona v. Philip John Martin | Arizona | 2019-11-12 | Denied | Amici (1)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) | appeal criminal-appeal double-jeopardy first-degree-murder greater-offense hung-jury hung-jury-rule jury-instructions jury-verdict lesser-offense richardson-v-united-states second-degree-murder | In Green v. United States , the Court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause barred retrial of a greater offense when the jury's "verdict was silent" on… |
| 19-6029 | Frank Jeffs v. Michael Overmyer, Superintendent, State Correctional Institution at Forest, et al. | Pennsylvania | 2019-09-23 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder habeas-corpus jurisdiction premeditated-murder prosecutorial-misconduct self-defense sentencing sentencing-order | 1. Is not the Pennsylvania Supreme Court required in its Per Curiam conclusions of law with respect thereto. If the court finds that...[2] the sentenc… |
| 19-5301 | Aaron Orlando Richards v. Louisiana | Louisiana | 2019-07-25 | GVR | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (3)IFP | constitutional-interpretation criminal-procedure double-jeopardy due-process equal-protection first-degree-murder jury-trial jury-unanimity jury-verdict legislative-amendment non-unanimous-verdict prosecutorial-discretion unanimous-verdict | Did the appellate court err in its interpretation of Apodaca Bad Bertrand? In this first degree murder prosecution, the jury returned an eleven-to-one… |
| 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 | 1. Whether Mr. Foster's death sentence is unconstitutional because it violates the Eighth Amendment and the Due Process Clause where the jury did not … |
| 18-8371 | Martin E. Grant v. Michigan | Michigan | 2019-03-11 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 6th-amendment due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel equal-protection first-degree-murder life-imprisonment motion-for-relief-from-judgment plea-bargaining sixth-amendment | Whether Petitioner has been denied the effective assistance of counsel guaranteed by the 6th Amendment to the United States Constitution, during the p… |
| 18-8312 | Dayomashell David Aguilar v. William Gittere, Warden, et al. | Ninth Circuit | 2019-03-06 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | aiding-and-abetting conspiracy criminal-procedure first-degree-murder jury-instructions mens-rea miscarriage-of-justice | 1. Whether the Ninth Circuit erred in denying a certificate of appealability on Aguilar's claim that the jury instructions relieved the State of the b… |
| 18-7192 | Lavell Phillips v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2018-12-28 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | armed-career-criminal-act attempted-first-degree-murder attempted-murder attempted-use-of-force criminal-statute elements-clause first-degree-murder physical-force procedural-background sentencing-enhancement statutory-interpretation violent-felony | Under the Armed Career Criminal Act ("ACCA"), a "violent felony" is defined as, inter alia, a felony that "has as an element the use, attempted use, o… |
| 18-6956 | Jason Dirk Walton v. Florida, et al. | Florida | 2018-12-07 | Denied | IFP | capital-murder criminal-law due-process eighth-amendment first-degree-murder jury-unanimity resentencing retrospective-application retrospective-law sentencing-elements substantive-criminal-law | 1. When changes in a state's substantive criminal set out the elements of capital murder which the prosecution must prove to the satisfaction of a una… |
| 18-6805 | Jose Rodriguez v. Daniel Paramo, Warden | Ninth Circuit | 2018-11-26 | Denied | IFP | abuse-of-discretion constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process federal-question first-degree-murder ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel insufficient-evidence jury-instructions penal-code-187a principal reasonable-doubt | Allege "INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE" is FEDERAL QUESTION, Petitioner Mr. JOSE RODRIGUEZ, is not the PRINCIPAL Jury Instructions for count one and two, P.C. … |
| 18-6635 | Eddie Hampton v. California | California | 2018-11-08 | Denied | IFP | criminal-procedure criminal-procedure-error felony-murder first-degree-murder jury-instruction jury-instructions murder natural-and-probable-consequence natural-probable-consequence prejudice-standard premeditated-murder standard-of-prejudice | Ft] he jury was rroneousiy insLrjted on (a) Murder as a ui :ural and p:5able consq:ience per pe0p.e VS enLu SY al 4 Lb 5 172 caL Rptr 3d 438 325 P .3d… |
| 18-5865 | Gary L. Pennington v. Michael Clark, Superintendent, State Correctional Institution at Albion, et al. | Pennsylvania | 2018-09-04 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | capital-offense constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process first-degree-murder fourteenth-amendment state-law substantive-due-process | WHETHER PETITIONER'S CONVICTION OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER VIOLATED THE CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED STATE-CREATED LIBERTY INTEREST GUARANTEED UNDER THE FOU… |
| 18-192 | J. B. R. v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2018-08-14 | Denied | age-of-criminal-responsibility constitutional-limits constitutional-punishment criminal-prosecution death-penalty due-process first-degree-murder juvenile-justice juvenile-offender juvenile-offenders life-imprisonment prosecutorial-discretion statutory-interpretation statutory-punishment | Whether the Due Process Clause forbids the Government from prosecuting an individual who was a juvenile at the time of the crime under a statute that … |