Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

United States v. Gerald Adrian Wheeler

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 16-6073 · judgment March 28, 2018

Certiorari denied · March 18, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 52% cert probability (95% interval 40%–64%)

Before the decision, about 12.7× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, counsel who has won certiorari before, and a circuit split argued in the petition.

Question presented

Under 28 U.S.C. 2255, a federal prisoner has the opportunity to collaterally attack his sentence once on any ground cognizable on collateral review, with “second or successive” attacks limited to certain claims that indicate factual innocence or that rely on constitutional-law decisions made retroactive by this Court. 28 U.S.C. 2255(h). Under 28 U.S.C. 2255(e), an “application for a writ of habeas corpus [under 28 U.S.C. 2241] in behalf of a prisoner who is authorized to apply for relief by motion pursuant to” Section 2255 “shall not be entertained * * * unless it * * * appears that the remedy by motion is inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention.” The question presented is whether a prisoner whose Section 2255 motion challenging the applicability of a statutory minimum was denied based on circuit precedent may later seek habeas relief on the ground that the circuit’s interpretation of the relevant statutes has changed. (I)

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

For respondent
Joshua Brown Carpenter
Federal Public Defender, NCWD

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 5 conferences

Linked docket
18A224

Proceedings

  1. Mar 18 2019
    Motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed by respondent GRANTED.
  2. Mar 18 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  3. Mar 11 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/15/2019.
  4. Mar 01 2019
    Letter of March 1, 2019 from counsel for respondent received. (Distributed)
  5. Feb 28 2019
    Letter of February 28, 2019 from the Solicitor General received. (Distributed)
  6. Feb 25 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/1/2019.
  7. Feb 19 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/22/2019.
  8. Jan 30 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/15/2019.
  9. Jan 30 2019
    Reply of petitioner United States of America filed. (Distributed)
  10. Jan 14 2019
    Motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed by respondent Gerald Adrian Wheeler.
  11. Jan 14 2019
    Brief of respondent Gerald Adrian Wheeler in opposition filed.
  12. Nov 27 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including January 14, 2019.
  13. Nov 20 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 13, 2018 to January 14, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  14. Nov 13 2018
    Response Requested. (Due December 13, 2018)
  15. Nov 07 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/30/2018.
  16. Nov 05 2018
    Waiver of right of respondent Gerald Adrian Wheeler to respond filed.
  17. Oct 03 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 5, 2018)
  18. Aug 29 2018
    Application (18A224) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from September 9, 2018 to October 9, 2018, submitted to The Chief Justice.
    Main DocumentProof of Service
  19. Aug 29 2018
    Application (18A224) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until October 9, 2018.