New SCOTUS Criminal Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court accepted seven cases for full briefing and argument last Wednesday. Four of them are criminal, habeas corpus, or law-enforcement-related civil cases.

Thornell v. Jones, No. 22-982, is a capital habeas case in which the murderer’s claims of ineffective assistance were rejected by the state trial court, the state supreme court, and the federal district court, but a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit decided that all the prior courts were wrong, despite the deference due to state courts’ resolution of claims on the merits and trial courts’ decisions on question of fact.

Snyder v. United States, No. 23-108, involves a question regarding a quid pro quo requirement for the federal bribery statute, 18 U.S.C. § 666.

Chiaverini v. Napoleon, Ohio, No. 23-50, involves a civil suit for malicious prosecution where one charge is baseless but others are not.

Fischer v. United States, No. 23-5572, involves the question of whether certain people involved in the January 6, 2021, incident at the Capitol can be prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2): “Whoever corruptly— … (2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.”