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Adnan Syed v. Maryland

Paid petition · Court of Appeals of Maryland, No. 24, September Term, 2018 · judgment March 8, 2019


Certiorari denied · November 25, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

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

Question presented

Whether a court evaluating prejudice under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), must take the State’s case as it was presented to the jury, as ten state and federal courts have held, or whether the court may instead hypothesize that the jury may have disbelieved the State’s case, as the Maryland Court of Appeals held below. (i)

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Catherine Emily Stetson
Hogan Lovells US LLP

For respondent
Carrie J. Williams
Goodell DeVries Leech & Dann

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
3 cert-stage

Linked docket
18A1320

Proceedings

  1. Nov 25 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Nov 06 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/22/2019.
  3. Nov 01 2019
    Reply of petitioner Adnan Syed filed.
  4. Oct 18 2019
    Brief of respondent State of Maryland in opposition filed.
  5. Sep 20 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Martin Tankleff and Thirty-Eight Other Wrongfully Convicted Individuals filed.
  6. Sep 20 2019
    Brief amici curiae of The Innocence Network and The Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center filed.
  7. Sep 17 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers filed.
  8. Sep 13 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 21, 2019.
  9. Sep 10 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 20, 2019 to October 21, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  10. Aug 26 2019
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Adnan Syed.
  11. Aug 19 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 20, 2019)
  12. Jun 18 2019
    Application (18A1320) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until August 19, 2019.
  13. Jun 17 2019
    Application (18A1320) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from July 18, 2019 to August 19, 2019, submitted to The Chief Justice.