| 25-5241 |
Clarence Fry v. Timothy Shoop, Warden |
Sixth Circuit |
2025-07-30 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-trial constitutional-right federal-courts mitigation state-courts waiver |
When the undisputed factual record demonstrates the denial of the constitutional right to testify at a capital trial, do federal courts err in affordi… |
| 23-7364 |
Jorge Galindo v. Nebraska |
Nebraska |
2024-05-02 |
Denied |
Relisted (2)IFP |
capital-punishment death-penalty eddings-v-oklahoma ineffective-assistance lockett-v-ohio mitigation sentencing-considerations supreme-court-precedent tennard-v-dretke youth youth-mitigation |
May a state categorically exclude youth as a mitigating factor in a capital case? |
| 23-7187 |
Leslie Galloway, III v. Mississippi |
Mississippi |
2024-04-09 |
Denied |
IFP |
constitutional-rights criminal-defense death-penalty ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel investigation-standard mitigation post-hoc-strategy post-traumatic-stress-disorder procedural-history sixth-amendment |
whether-post-hoc-speculation-about-strategy-can-excuse-a-failure-to-conduct-reasonable-investigation |
| 23-5620 |
Margaret A. Allen v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. |
Eleventh Circuit |
2023-09-20 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-punishment certificate-of-appealability constitutional-rights due-process evidence ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation sixth-amendment strickland-v-washington |
Whether the Eleventh Circuit flouted this Court's relevant decisions and precedent by declining to even grant a certificate of appealability regarding… |
| 21-7794 |
Paul C. Bolin v. Ron Broomfield, Warden |
Ninth Circuit |
2022-05-06 |
Denied |
IFP |
aggravating-factors capital-punishment habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance jury-discretion mitigation mitigation-evidence prejudice-analysis prejudice-standard strickland-standard strickland-v-washington |
Whether a state or federal habeas court may reasonably conclude that a crime is so aggravated that no mitigation could persuade even one juror to vote… |
| 21-7778 |
Lester Ochoa v. Ron Davis, Warden |
Ninth Circuit |
2022-05-04 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-punishment cruel-and-unusual-punishment cullen-v-pinholster eighth-amendment family-sympathy jury-instructions mitigation mitigation-evidence |
Whether a State court may prohibit jurors from considering sympathy for a defendant's family in the penalty phase of a capital case as mitigation |
| 20-8453 |
Devonte Jaishun Tucker v. United States |
Eleventh Circuit |
2021-06-29 |
Denied |
Response WaivedIFP |
appellate-review criminal-procedure criminal-sentencing due-process judicial-discretion mitigation preservation preservation-of-error sentencing sentencing-discretion |
Whether a defendant must object to sentencing court's failure to consider a nonfrivolous mitigation argument in order to preserve the issue for appeal |
| 20-8333 |
Carman Deck v. Paul Blair, Warden, et al. |
Eighth Circuit |
2021-06-17 |
Denied |
IFP |
delay eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment mitigation resentencing sixth-amendment |
Does this Court's Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment precedent protect a defendant's right to present mitigation when a delay occasioned by the St… |
| 20-8038 |
Shawn Grate v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2021-05-14 |
Denied |
Relisted (2)IFP |
capital-punishment criminal-defendant criminal-defense death-penalty due-process effective-assistance-of-counsel ineffective-assistance-of-counsel insanity-defense mental-health mitigation |
Whether a criminal defendant is deprived of the constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel and due process if trial counsel withdraws an … |
| 20-1171 |
Michael Madison v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2021-02-25 |
Denied |
|
capital-punishment due-process fifth-amendment mental-health mitigation self-incrimination |
When a capital defendant intends to present mitigation evidence from mental health experts who have interviewed him, but affirmatively represents to t… |
| 20-6473 |
Jessica Arnold v. United States |
Fifth Circuit |
2020-11-30 |
Denied |
Response WaivedIFP |
appellate-review district-court failure-to-address judicial-discretion mitigation procedural-error sentencing sentencing-mitigation standard-of-review trial-counsel |
What standard applies to appellate review of the appeal of a district court's failure to address arguments of counsel in mitigation of sentencing, whe… |
| 20-5825 |
Larry Lamar Nance v. United States |
Fourth Circuit |
2020-09-28 |
Denied |
Response WaivedIFP |
appellate-review central-thesis circuit-split criminal-procedure due-process judicial-discretion mitigation mitigation-arguments sentencing sentencing-review |
Whether a sentencing court must address all material, non-frivolous arguments in mitigation |
| 20-5263 |
Patrick W. Schroeder v. Nebraska |
Nebraska |
2020-08-05 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-punishment capital-sentencing death-penalty eighth-amendment fourteenth-amendment mitigation mitigation-evidence pro-se pro-se-representation proportionality sentencing |
Whether the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments are violated when a capital sentencing panel issues a death sentence despite the defendant's refusal to i… |
| 20-5170 |
William Russell Williams v. Michigan |
Michigan |
2020-07-24 |
Denied |
IFP |
actus-reus criminal-procedure due-process ineffective-assistance jury-instructions mens-rea mitigation mitigation-instruction prosecutorial-misconduct right-to-present-defense sentencing-guidelines |
Was William Williams denied his right to due process, to present a defense, and to a properly instructed jury? |
| 19-7728 |
Wayne English v. Energy Future Holdings Corp., et al. |
Third Circuit |
2020-02-21 |
Denied |
IFP |
chose-in-action civil-litigation civil-procedure civil-rights claims-transfer common-law contract corporate-securities damages mitigation mitigation-doctrine party-standing securities standing |
Whether creditors and debtors, plaintiffs and defendants, and parties in interest are allowed, required, or exempt from instituting the mitigation doc… |
| 19-7476 |
Timothy Wayne Kemp v. Dexter Payne, Director, Arkansas Division of Correction |
Eighth Circuit |
2020-01-29 |
Denied |
Amici (1)IFP |
brady-rule brady-violation criminal-procedure death-penalty discovery due-process eighth-circuit habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation mitigation-investigation procedural-default professional-standards |
Must a court consider prevailing professional norms when determining whether a life history investigation was 'thorough? |
| 19-5430 |
Christopher Devon Jackson v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division |
Fifth Circuit |
2019-08-01 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-case certificate-of-appealability due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-review mental-health mental-health-mitigation mitigation wiggins-v-smith |
Whether the Fifth Circuit applied an overly restrictive standard for granting a certificate of appealability (COA) where the district court found that… |
| 18-9656 |
In Re Lexter K. Kossie |
|
2019-06-17 |
Denied |
IFP |
character-evidence character-witness constitutional-performance criminal-procedure due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigating-evidence mitigation right-to-testify sentencing sentencing-phase |
Can a trial counsel render constitutionally performance and not prejudice the defense |
| 18-8951 |
Terrance Proctor v. Wendy Kelley, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction |
Arkansas |
2019-04-23 |
Denied |
Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP |
criminal-procedure discretion due-process eighth-amendment graham-v-florida juvenile-sentencing life-without-parole mitigation proportionality sentencing-mitigation |
Are consecutive, fixed term sentences for juveniles unconstitutional at the outset when they amount to the functional equivalent of life without parol… |
| 18-8057 |
Duane Allen Short v. Ohio |
Ohio |
2019-02-21 |
Denied |
IFP |
capital-defense capital-punishment death-penalty death-row effective-assistance-of-counsel ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel mitigation mitigation-evidence plea-bargaining sixth-amendment |
Whether a capital defendant's Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel is violated where, but for counsel's intervention and unfou… |
| 18-7588 |
Frank Odom, Jr. v. United States |
Fourth Circuit |
2019-01-25 |
Denied |
Response WaivedIFP |
appeal-waiver district-court due-process fourth-circuit mitigation mitigation-arguments plea-agreement remand sentencing |
Does a plea agreement with an appeal waiver waive the right to obtain a remand requiring the district court to actually consider the defendant's mitig… |
| 18-7140 |
Tommy Ray Hull, Jr. v. United States |
Fifth Circuit |
2018-12-21 |
Denied |
IFP |
chavez-meza-precedent chavez-meza-v-united-states circuit-split district-court district-court-discretion due-process fifth-circuit fifth-circuit-standard mitigation mitigation-arguments sentencing sentencing-review standard-of-review |
Whether the Fifth Circuit erred in its standard of review when a district court fails to address arguments of counsel in mitigation of sentencing |
| 18-6904 |
Oree Roberson v. United States |
Fifth Circuit |
2018-12-03 |
Denied |
Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP |
burden-of-proof chavez-meza chavez-meza-v-united-states circuit-conflict due-process fifth-circuit judicial-review mitigation presentence-report sentencing sentencing-guidelines sentencing-procedure standard-of-review |
Whether the defendant bears the burden to establish that objected to information in the Presentence Report is materially untrue, or whether the govern… |
| 18-6749 |
James Barnes v. Julie L. Jones, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. |
Eleventh Circuit |
2018-11-20 |
Denied |
IFP |
constitutional-violation criminal-procedure faretta-right faretta-v-california mitigation mitigation-investigation presentencing-investigation pro-se-defendant sixth-amendment special-counsel |
Whether Florida's use of 'special counsel' to investigate and present mitigation and its requirement of a presentencing investigation report to provid… |
| 18-6727 |
John C. Stojetz v. Tim Shoop, Warden |
Sixth Circuit |
2018-11-19 |
Denied |
IFP |
brady-violation capital-punishment due-process exculpatory-evidence ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel medical-records mitigation prosecutorial-misconduct ptsd racial-bias |
Has the Constitutional right to due process of law been violated where a prosecutor withholds prison medical records that substantiate a capital defen… |