| 25-732 |
Amos Wells v. Eric Guerrero, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division |
Fifth Circuit |
2025-12-19 |
Pending |
Amici (4) |
capital-sentencing constitutional-rights expert-testimony future-dangerousness habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance |
Whether trial counsel provides constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel at the sentencing phase of a capital trial by presenting evidence th… |
| 25A477 |
Amos Wells v. Eric Guerrero, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division |
Fifth Circuit |
2025-10-27 |
Application |
|
death-penalty future-dangerousness genetic-evidence ineffective-assistance sixth-amendment strickland-standard |
Whether defense counsel's introduction of genetic predisposition evidence constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment when… |
| 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… |
| 23-7791 |
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… |
| 23A1147 |
In Re Ramiro Felix Gonzales |
|
2024-06-24 |
Denied |
|
death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment future-dangerousness habeas-corpus jury-prediction |
Whether the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit the execution of a prisoner whose demonstrated character and rehabilitation fundamentally challe… |
| 23A1146 |
Ramiro F. Gonzales v. Texas |
Texas |
2024-06-24 |
Denied |
|
capital-murder death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment future-dangerousness jury-determination |
Whether the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit executing a capital defendant who may not meet state-law eligibility criteria for the death pena… |
| 23A410 |
Brent Ray Brewer v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division |
Fifth Circuit |
2023-11-07 |
Denied |
|
certificate-of-appealability constitutional-claim death-penalty expert-testimony future-dangerousness habeas-corpus |
Whether a state court dissent on a constitutional claim requires granting a certificate of appealability in a death penalty habeas proceeding |
| 23-5823 |
Ramiro Felix Gonzales v. Texas |
Texas |
2023-10-17 |
Denied |
IFP |
constitutional-claim death-penalty eighth-amendment expert-testimony fourteenth-amendment future-dangerousness recantation texas-code-criminal-procedure |
Whether a state court errs in refusing to entertain a cognizable Eighth or Fourteenth Amendment claim based on a state expert's recantation of trial t… |
| 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 |
| 21-7646 |
Jason Delacerda v. Texas |
Texas |
2022-04-19 |
Denied |
IFP |
appellate-review criminal-conviction criminal-procedure death-penalty due-process future-dangerousness ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel psychiatric-evidence psychiatric-testimony sufficiency-of-evidence |
Did the appellate court err in failing to find that the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction and death sentence? |
| 20-7071 |
Pete Russell v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division |
Fifth Circuit |
2021-02-08 |
Denied |
IFP |
certificate-of-appealability future-dangerousness habeas ineffective-assistance-of-counsel merits-review strickland |
Did the Court of Appeals err in denying a certificate of appealability, through a merits review, of Russell's claim that he received ineffective assis… |
| 19-8712 |
Billy Joe Wardlow v. Texas |
Texas |
2020-06-15 |
Denied |
Amici (1)IFP |
age-of-offender brain-development death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment future-dangerousness neuroscience roper-v-simmons |
Whether Texas may continue to impose, and carry out previously imposed, death sentences for which future dangerousness is or was used to determine dea… |
| 19-5171 |
Victor Hugo Saldano v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division |
Fifth Circuit |
2019-07-16 |
Denied |
Amici (3)IFP |
biased-jury buck-v-davis certificate-of-appealability constitutional-claim death-penalty due-process future-dangerousness mental-competency racial-bias vagueness vagueness-doctrine |
Whether the Texas future-dangerousness special issue fails on vagueness grounds as applied to Mr. Saldajfio, as a statute incapable of reasoned applic… |
| 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… |
| 18-8712 |
John Hummel v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division |
Fifth Circuit |
2019-04-05 |
Denied |
IFP |
character-and-record death-penalty future-dangerousness ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence pretrial-incarceration sixth-amendment sixth-amendment-right-to-counsel strickland-standard strickland-v-washington trial-counsel |
Whether a death penalty defendant received ineffective assistance of trial counsel for failing to investigate and present evidence of the defendant's … |
| 18-8561 |
Jeffery Lee Wood v. Texas |
Texas |
2019-03-26 |
Denied |
IFP |
culpability death-penalty death-penalty-eligibility due-process eighth-amendment enmund-v-florida fourteenth-amendment future-dangerousness law-of-parties tison-v-arizona |
Whether the petitioner is categorically ineligible for the death penalty because he lacked the requisite minimal culpability under the Eight and Fourt… |
| 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… |
| 18-6588 |
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… |
| 18-5546 |
Billie Wayne Coble v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division |
Fifth Circuit |
2018-08-10 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-case capital-sentencing constitutional-rights daubert daubert-standard due-process eighth-amendment expert-testimony future-dangerousness reliability |
Whether the Fifth Circuit and Texas courts improperly applied Barefoot v. Estelle to categorically foreclose claims that unreliable expert testimony o… |