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Vanessa Stuart v. Alabama

Paid petition · Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, No. CR-16-0752 · judgment December 8, 2017

Certiorari denied · November 19, 2018
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

In this criminal case, the Alabama courts permitted the introduction into evidence of a State laboratory employee’s formal, official, written “reports” to law enforcement, regarding blood alcohol test results concerning blood of the Petitioner (who was listed as the “suspect” in the reports). Those reports were accepted into evidence for the truth of the matters asserted therein: i.e., as evidence of her blood alcohol level. The Alabama courts allowed this even though there was no testimony from the person who performed the test and signed the reports, nor even testimony from any other witness who was personally involved in the testing of the blood samples in question. The question is whether the decision below is contrary to Bullcoming v. New Mexico, 564 U.S. 647 (2011). It is, and the Court should summarily reverse.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Samuel H. Heldman
The Gardner Firm, PC

For respondent
Beth Slate Poe
AL Attorney General's Office

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 6 conferences

Argument & decision

Decided November 19, 2018.

Proceedings

  1. Nov 19 2018
    Petition DENIED. Justice Gorsuch, with whom Justice Sotomayor joins, dissenting from the denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)
  2. Nov 13 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/16/2018.
  3. Nov 05 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/9/2018.
  4. Oct 29 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/2/2018.
  5. Oct 22 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/26/2018.
  6. Oct 10 2018
    Rescheduled.
  7. Sep 26 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/12/2018.
  8. Sep 24 2018
    Record received from the Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama. The record is electronic.
  9. Sep 18 2018
    Record Requested.
  10. Aug 22 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/24/2018.
  11. Aug 20 2018
    Reply of petitioner Vanessa Stuart filed. (Distributed)
  12. Aug 08 2018
    Brief of respondent State of Alabama in opposition filed.
  13. Jul 10 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including August 17, 2018.
  14. Jul 02 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from July 18, 2018 to August 17, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  15. Jun 14 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 18, 2018)