Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Marcus Lee Robinson v. Colorado
Paid petition · Supreme Court of Colorado, No. 17SC823 · judgment December 9, 2019
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
Petitioner is an African-American man who was tried for sexually assaulting a white woman. During the prosecutor’s opening statement, she gratuitously contrasted the alleged victim’s “pasty white” skin with petitioner’s “dark” skin. She described the incident as “a dark penis going into a white body.” During the trial, she repeatedly called the jury’s attention to petitioner’s race and to the fact that he is “dark complected” below the waist. Although the prosecutor’s comments had nothing to do with any issue at trial, defense counsel never objected to any of these errors. The Colorado Court of Appeals reversed for plain error, but the Colorado Supreme Court held that the errors were not plain because petitioner had not shown that they altered the jury’s verdict. The question presented is whether, to establish that a prosecutor’s blatant appeals to racial prejudice constitute plain error, the defendant must show that they altered the jury’s verdict.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Stuart Banner
UCLA School of Law Supreme Court Clinic
For respondent
Doyle Jon Baker
Office of the District Attorney, Fourth Judicial D
Proceedings
- Oct 05 2020Petition DENIED.
- Sep 09 2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
- Sep 02 2020Reply of petitioner Marcus Lee Robinson filed.
- Aug 27 2020Proposal under Rule 32.3 to lodge non-record material with the Clerk filed by counsel for respondent.
- Aug 24 2020Brief of respondent Colorado in opposition filed.
- Jul 27 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including August 24, 2020.
- Jul 24 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from July 27, 2020 to August 24, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jun 22 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including July 27, 2020.
- Jun 19 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from June 25, 2020 to July 27, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- May 26 2020Response Requested. (Due June 25, 2020)
- May 12 2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/28/2020.
- Apr 30 2020Waiver of right of respondent Colorado to respond filed.
- Mar 26 2020Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 18, 2020)
- Feb 14 2020Application (19A884) granted by Justice Sotomayor extending the time to file until April 8, 2020.
- Feb 05 2020Application (19A884) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from March 8, 2020 to April 8, 2020, submitted to Justice Sotomayor.