Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Leroy D. Cropper v. Arizona
Paid petition · Superior Court of Arizona, Maricopa County, No. CR1997-003949 · judgment February 7, 2017
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
In Simmons v. South Carolina, 512 U.S. 154 (1994), this Court held that a capital defendant is entitled to inform the jury about his parole ineligibility when future dangerousness is at issue. In 2016, the Court summarily reversed the Arizona Supreme Court for refusing to allow a capital defendant to inform the jury about his parole ineligibility. See Lynch v. Arizona, 136 S. Ct. 1818 (2016) (per curiam). In this case, the Arizona courts again upheld a death sentence even though the jury was never told that the capital defendant was ineligible for parole. The difference between this case and Lynch is that the jury here was never told because defense counsel never asked. The question presented is: Whether a death sentence may be carried out when defense counsel unreasonably fails to inform the jury of parole ineligibility under Simmons v. South Carolina, 512 U.S. 154 (1994), resulting in prejudice.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Melissa Arbus Sherry
Latham & Watkins LLP
For respondent
Laura Patrice Chiasson
Arizona Attorney General
Proceedings
- Jun 29 2020Petition DENIED.
- Jun 09 2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/25/2020.
- Jun 09 2020Reply of petitioner Leroy D. Cropper filed. (Distributed)
- May 26 2020Brief of respondent State of Arizona in opposition filed.
- Apr 08 2020Brief amicus curiae of Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice filed.
- Apr 08 2020Brief amici curiae of John H. Blume, et al. filed.
- Apr 01 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including May 26, 2020.
- Mar 30 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 8, 2020 to June 8, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- Mar 05 2020Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 8, 2020)
- Feb 04 2020Application (19A735) to extend further the time from February 20, 2020 to March 5, 2020, submitted to Justice Kagan.
- Feb 04 2020Application (19A735) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until March 5, 2020.
- Jan 02 2020Application (19A735) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until February 20, 2020.
- Dec 31 2019Application (19A735) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from January 21, 2020 to February 20, 2020, submitted to Justice Kagan.