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Mark A. Beckham v. United States

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 18-1406 · judgment March 8, 2019


Certiorari denied · January 13, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability (95% interval 3%–8%)

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, an Eighth Circuit decision below, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition).

Question presented

Because only a jury, acting on proof beyond a reasonable doubt, may take a person’s liberty, when, if ever, is it constitutionally permissible for an appellate court to conclude that a district court’s refusal to instruct the jury as to two elements of a crime constitutes harmless error?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Justin Keith Gelfand
Marguils Gelfand LLC

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Linked docket
19A24

Proceedings

  1. Jan 13 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Dec 11 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/10/2020.
  3. Dec 05 2019
    Reply of petitioner Mark Beckham filed.
  4. Nov 21 2019
    Brief of respondent United States of America in opposition filed.
  5. Oct 18 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including November 21, 2019.
  6. Oct 17 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 18, 2019 to November 21, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  7. Sep 11 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 18, 2019.
  8. Sep 10 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 18, 2019 to October 18, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  9. Aug 12 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 18, 2019)
  10. Jul 03 2019
    Application (19A24) granted by Justice Gorsuch extending the time to file until August 13, 2019.
  11. Jun 28 2019
    Application (19A24) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from July 14, 2019 to August 14, 2019, submitted to Justice Gorsuch.