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Gregory Brice v. United States

Paid petition · District of Columbia Court of Appeals, No. 15-CO-0641, 16-CO-0252 · judgment January 22, 2018

Certiorari denied · January 7, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

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

Questions presented

Petitioner was convicted of murder based on conflicting eyewitness testimony. The government’s witnesses put petitioner at the scene of the crime. Petitioner, however, presented eyewitnesses and other testimony that Darryl Hazel, not petitioner, committed the murder. The trial court refused to admit evidence of Hazel’s motive to commit the murder, and also excluded evidence that Hazel confessed to the crime. After trial, Hazel confessed several more times to the murder. Moreover, it emerged years later that the government had suppressed material, exculpatory evidence that Hazel had a powerful, personal motive to commit the murder as revenge for the murder of Hazel’s brother. By contrast, at trial, the government presented no evidence that petitioner had a motive to commit the crime. The questions presented are:

  1. Whether the government violated its obligations under Brady v. Maryland by suppressing evidence showing that the leading alternate suspect had a powerful motive to murder the decedent.

  2. Whether the trial court erred by concluding that multiple post-trial confessions by the leading alternate suspect would not have been admissible as statements against penal interest, and therefore, did not provide grounds for a new trial.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Ilana Hope Eisenstein
DLA Piper LLP (US)

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Jan 07 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Dec 19 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/4/2019.
  3. Dec 19 2018
    Reply of petitioner Gregory Brice filed. (Distributed)
  4. Dec 04 2018
    Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
  5. Nov 21 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including December 5, 2018.
  6. Nov 20 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from November 23, 2018 to December 5, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  7. Nov 05 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including November 23, 2018.
  8. Nov 01 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from November 5, 2018 to November 23, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  9. Oct 04 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including November 5, 2018.
  10. Oct 03 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 5, 2018 to November 5, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  11. Sep 06 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including October 5, 2018.
  12. Sep 05 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 5, 2018 to October 5, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  13. Aug 06 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 6, 2018 to September 5, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  14. Aug 06 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 5, 2018.
  15. Jul 05 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 6, 2018)