Petition of the Day
The petition of the day is:
Rubashkin v. United States
Docket: 11-1203
Issue(s): (1) Whether Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33 requires a criminal defendant with newly discovered evidence that goes not to guilt or innocence but to the fundamental fairness of his criminal trial – here, that the trial judge should have been recused under 28 U.S.C. § 455(a) – to show nonetheless that the new evidence would probably lead to his acquittal; and (2) whether a sentence is unreasonable when a district court fails to consider and explain on the record, as required by this Court’s precedents, its basis for rejecting a defendant’s nonfrivolous argument for a below-Guidelines sentence – resulting in, here, a twenty-seven-year sentence for a first-time, nonviolent offender that is significantly greater than
sentences for similarly situated individuals.
Certiorari stage documents:
- Opinion below (8th Cir.)
- Petition for certiorari
- Brief in opposition
- Amicus brief of Justice Fellowship et al.
- Amicus brief of Criminal Justice and Legal Ethics Professors (forthcoming)
- Amicus brief of Eighty-Six Former Attorneys General et al.
- Amicus brief of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers et al.
- Amicus brief of Washington Legal Foundation and Criminal Law Scholars
- Amicus brief of Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL)
- Reply of petitioner
Recommended Citation: Ben Cheng, Petition of the Day, SCOTUSblog (Sep. 24, 2012, 11:09 PM), http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/09/petition-of-the-day-341/