Federal Defense Attorney John Teakell

Now that the United States Supreme Court is back in full swing, a number of noteworthy petitions for certiorari have been filed with the court. The cases involve several federal law issues which include

Flores-Figueroa v. United States - The petition for certiorari asks the Court to determine what exactly the mens rea requirement of the federal “aggravated identity theft” statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1). The question presented is whether the “knowingly” requirement extends through the entire clause, requiring the Government to show that the defendant knew that the identification he used belonged to another person.

Marcrum v. Roper – The petition for certiorari asks the Court to determine whether, in assessing Sixth Amendment ineffective assistance of counsel claims under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), errors by trial counsel must be considered individually or cumulatively.

Brunson v. Harris – The petition for certiorari asks the Court to determine whether the one-year time period for filing federal habeas petitions under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act is subject to equitable tolling.

Lett v. United States - The petition for certiorari asks the Court to determine whether, under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, a district judge may amend a prior criminal sentence mistakenly based on a misunderstanding of federal sentencing factors.

Kentucky v. Leach, et ux
- The petition for certiorari asks the Court to determine whether police violate the Fourth Amendment by initiating a “knock and talk” investigation at a back door not viewable to members of the public.

Bussell v. United States - The petition for certiorari asks the Court to determine whether a defendant can be convicted of making a false statement based on what she considers to be a truthful response to an ambiguous government question.

Lewis v. United States - The petition for certiorari asks the Court to determine if a defendant violates the terms of supervised release, a district court may base the new sentence upon factors stated in 18 U.S.C. 3553(a)(2)(A).

Martinez-Guerrero v. United States - The petition for certiorari asks the Court to determine whether a district court may direct a defendant to serve a federal sentence consecutively to a not-yet-imposed state sentence.

Vonner v. United States - The petition for certiorari asks the Court to determine whether criminal defendants must object at the time a sentence is imposed in order to challenge the sentence as either procedurally or substantively unreasonable under United States v. Booker (2005).