mitigating-factors

29 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25-6748 John Edwin Corn, Jr. v. United States Eleventh Circuit 2026-02-06 Pending IFP 18-USC-3553a criminal-sentencing mitigating-factors sentencing-guidelines substantive-reasonableness upward-variance Following this Court's decision s in United States v. Booker , 543 U.S. 220 (2005), and Gall v. United States , 552 U.S. 38 (2007), whether a district…
24A345 Ronald Robinson v. United States Eighth Circuit 2024-10-11 Presumed Complete 18-usc-3553a criminal-history eighth-circuit mitigating-factors sentencing-discretion sentencing-guidelines Whether a district court may impose an unusually harsh sentence without meaningfully considering a defendant's mitigating factors of childhood trauma,…
24-5563 Eloy Vela, Jr. v. Texas Texas 2024-09-17 Denied IFP 14th-amendment due-process equal-protection mitigating-factors newly-discovered-evidence post-conviction Whether newly discovered evidence containing both mitigating and aggravating factors can be simply concluded in state post-conviction proceedings with…
24-5248 Jason Wade Grant v. United States Fifth Circuit 2024-08-06 Denied Response WaivedIFP constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process individualized-sentencing mitigating-factors sentencing-discretion Whether a sentencing court's failure to consider mitigating factors and individual circumstances violates a defendant's constitutional rights to indiv…
24A132 Kyle Trevor Flack v. Kansas Kansas 2024-08-06 Presumed Complete capital-punishment eighth-amendment kansas-supreme-court mitigating-factors murder sentencing Whether the Eighth Amendment permits the imposition of a capital sentence under circumstances involving multiple murder victims and potential mitigati…
23-7812 Akohomen Ighedoise v. United States Eleventh Circuit 2024-06-27 Denied Response WaivedIFP 18-usc-3553(a) abuse-of-discretion due-process judicial-discretion mitigating-factors plea-agreement post-sentencing-rehabilitation prosecutorial-conduct sentencing-guidelines sentencing-guidelines-departure substantive-rights Whether a Judge Abuses his/her discretion when there is a determination that post-sentencing rehabilitative efforts are evidence of an attempt to dece…
23-6988 Anthony Shief v. Illinois Illinois 2024-03-14 Denied IFP 8th-amendment civil-rights constitutional-rights cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process eighth-amendment juvenile-justice juvenile-sentencing life-without-parole mitigating-factors sentencing sentencing-procedure Whether the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment requires Miller protections for juvenile offenders who receive de facto lif…
23-221 Andrew H. Zoellick v. Wisconsin Wisconsin 2023-09-08 Denied Response Waived 4th-amendment civil-rights due-process fourth-amendment jurisprudential-definition mitigating-factors probable-cause reasonable-suspicion totality-of-circumstances totality-of-the-circumstances Whether the absence of any jurisprudential definition of the term 'totality' has led to the degradation of the Fourth Amendment totality of the circum…
23-5363 Kyle Richard Bishop v. Georgia Georgia 2023-08-16 Denied Response WaivedIFP civil-rights constitutional-interpretation criminal-procedure double-jeopardy due-process judicial-discretion jurisdiction mitigating-factors sentencing-guidelines standing Whether the U.S. Constitution allows the conviction of a U.S. citizen without an indictment
22-7247 Claudia Castillo Guzman v. United States Ninth Circuit 2023-04-10 Denied Response WaivedIFP criminal-procedure due-process government-conduct judicial-discretion mitigating-factors sentence-manipulation sentencing Whether the Due Process Clause is violated when a sentencing court refuses to consider, as a mitigating factor, whether the government has engaged in …
22-6396 John Edward Sansing v. Ryan Thornell, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2022-12-27 Denied IFP appellate-review clearly-established-law criminal-procedure death-penalty eighth-amendment federal-habeas mitigating-evidence mitigating-factors sentencing-procedure victim-impact Did the appellate court err in affirming the denial of Sansing's petition on this meritorious claim?
22-6134 Eugene Riley III v. Illinois Illinois 2022-11-22 Denied Response WaivedIFP 8th-amendment constitutional-violation criminal-sentencing cruel-and-unusual-punishment de-facto-life-sentence due-process juvenile-justice juvenile-offenders miller-v-alabama mitigating-factors sentencing-guidelines Did the State Court violate the U.S. Constitution when it imposed a 32 year sentence when it disregarded the mitigating factors laid out in Miller v. …
22-5983 Cordavia Daniels v. United States Fifth Circuit 2022-11-03 Denied Response WaivedIFP 18-usc-3553(a) age-consideration criminal-appeal criminal-sentencing fifth-circuit mitigating-factors sentencing-guidelines standard-of-review substantive-reasonableness Whether the Fifth Circuit erred by affirming the district court's consideration of Cordavia's age and mitigating factors
21-8232 Stephon Ellis v. United States Fourth Circuit 2022-06-24 Denied Response WaivedIFP criminal-sentencing eighth-amendment judicial-discretion mitigating-factors mitigation-factors proportionality proportionality-principle sentencing-guidelines traumatic-background traumatic-childhood Whether the 90-month sentence imposed on Mr. Ellis was 'greater than necessary' considering his extraordinarily traumatic childhood
21-7221 Alfred Lavoris Moody v. United States Fourth Circuit 2022-02-28 Denied Response WaivedIFP criminal-justice criminal-procedure due-process judicial-discretion juvenile-justice mitigating-factors mitigation-factors proportionality rehabilitation sentencing sentencing-guidelines sentencing-review Whether the 78-month sentence imposed on Mr. Moody was 'greater than necessary' considering his troubled childhood
21-5755 Kevin L. Frost v. Kansas Kansas 2021-09-22 Denied IFP 14th-amendment 6th-amendment aggravating-factors constitutional-rights due-process mitigating-factors sentencing sentencing-procedure Whether the sentencing court's improper weighing of mitigating and aggravating facts at sentencing resulted in a violation of the petitioner's due pro…
21-5391 Jermontae Moss v. Georgia Georgia 2021-08-17 Denied Response WaivedIFP 8th-amendment criminal-procedure cruel-and-unusual-punishment family-violence felony-murder juvenile-justice juvenile-sentencing life-without-parole miller-v-alabama mitigating-factors sentencing sentencing-discretion Does a court violate Miller when it refuses to consider childhood trauma as mitigating when sentencing a child to life without parole?
20-7252 John Raymond Travis v. California California 2021-02-25 Denied IFP capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel fifth-amendment jury-instructions mitigating-factors sixth-amendment Whether a trial court may preclude all counsel from referencing the word 'mercy' during argument to the jury in the sentencing phase of a capital tria…
20-7052 Joshua Wright v. United States Fourth Circuit 2021-02-05 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-review criminal-procedure criminal-sentencing due-process judicial-discretion mitigating-factors procedural-reasonableness reasonableness sentencing substantive-reasonableness Whether the 151-month sentence is procedurally and substantively reasonable
20-6988 Antwone Lamont Creater v. Illinois Illinois 2021-01-28 Denied IFP aggravating-factors appellate-review criminal-sentencing due-process equal-protection judicial-discretion mitigating-factors sentencing-guidelines Whether the seriousness of the offense is the most important factor for a judge to consider in fashioning a defendant's sentence, or whether the serio…
20-6303 Lamar Whatley v. Illinois Illinois 2020-11-13 Denied IFP aggravating-factors constitutional-challenge de-novo eighth-amendment ineffective-assistance judicial-discretion mitigating-factors sentencing sentencing-discretion separation-of-powers sixth-amendment Whether the separation of powers clause allows the legislature to limit the scope of judicial discretion in sentencing by deeming certain aggravating …
20-6237 Jamar Parker v. United States Fourth Circuit 2020-11-05 Denied Response WaivedIFP criminal-history district-court mitigating-factors mitigation-arguments procedural-reasonableness sentencing substantive-reasonableness Whether the 168-month sentence is procedurally and substantively reasonable
19-6254 Christopher T. Shanahan v. Idaho Idaho 2019-10-11 Denied Response WaivedIFP 8th-amendment constitutional-law cruel-and-unusual-punishment eighth-amendment equal-protection juvenile-sentencing life-sentence mitigating-factors parole parole-eligibility Does a juvenile life sentence with parole eligibility after a lengthy term violate the Eighth Amendment?
19-5718 Alexander Lee Salazar v. United States Fifth Circuit 2019-08-27 Denied Response WaivedIFP acceptance-of-responsibility appeal criminal-procedure district-court district-court-discretion mitigating-factors mitigating-role offense-level role-adjustment sentencing-guidelines Did the district court err when it declined to grant Mr. Salazar a mitigating role adjustment under the Guidelines?
18-9579 James D. Tench v. Ohio Ohio 2019-06-07 Denied IFP aggravating-circumstances capital-defendant capital-punishment constitutional-rights death-penalty' 'When a reviewing court independen due-process evidence-admission guilty-verdict hurst-v-florida jury jury-verdict mitigating-factors prejudicial-evidence sixth-amendment Does the admission of improper and prejudicial evidence violate a capital defendant's right to due process?
18-9154 Jeffrey William Smith v. Harold W. Clarke, Director, Virginia Department of Corrections Fourth Circuit 2019-05-07 Denied Response WaivedIFP civil-procedure-criminal constitutional-rights criminal-case criminal-procedure due-process judicial-discretion jury-instructions life-imprisonment life-sentence mitigating-factors sentencing sentencing-guidelines separation-of-powers statutory-interpretation Whether the circuit court erred in failing to correct a defective jury instruction
18A1001 Freddy Brown v. Florida Florida 2019-04-01 Presumed Complete eighth-amendment juvenile-sentencing life-sentence miller-v-alabama mitigating-factors proportionality Whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits a life sentence for a juvenile offender without consideration of the defendant's age and developmental characte…
18-8476 Anthony Grandison v. Maryland Maryland 2019-03-20 Denied Response WaivedIFP capital-sentencing collateral-consequences constitutional-due-process criminal-procedure death-penalty due-process harmless-error jury-instructions mitigating-factors sentencing sentencing-guidelines standard-of-proof Whether the Maryland Court of Appeals erred in finding that Grandison failed to prove he suffered significant collateral consequences from his unconst…
18-5937 Charles Lee Burton v. Alabama Alabama 2018-09-11 Denied IFP aggravating-factors caldwell-v-mississippi capital-sentencing capital-sentencing-scheme constitutional-review death-penalty eighth-amendment evolving-standards-of-decency hurst-v-florida jury-instructions jury-recommendation mitigating-factors Whether Alabama's capital sentencing scheme is unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida and Caldwell v. Mississippi