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John Doe v. United States

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 18-10007 · judgment June 27, 2019


Certiorari denied · January 13, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 6% cert probability (95% interval 4%–9%)

Before the decision, about 1.5× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Fifth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition).

Questions presented

  1. May a district court deny a government’s Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(b) motion for reduction of sentence based on substantial assistance without first deciding whether the defendant provided substantial assistance?

  2. After a district court has already imposed a criminal defendant’s original sentence, may it later deny a government’s Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(b) motion for reduction of sentence, in whole or in part, based on the same 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors that it used to determine the defendant’s original sentence?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
William B. Mateja
Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Linked docket
19M66, 19A287

Proceedings

  1. Jan 13 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Dec 18 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/10/2020.
  3. Dec 05 2019
    Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
  4. Nov 25 2019
    Motion (19M66) for leave to file a petition for a writ of certiorari with the supplemental appendix under seal Granted.
  5. Nov 06 2019
    MOTION (19M66) DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/22/2019.
  6. Oct 25 2019
    Motion (19M66) for leave to file a petition for a writ of certiorari with the supplemental appendix under seal filed.
  7. Oct 25 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 26, 2019)
  8. Sep 12 2019
    Application (19A287) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until October 25, 2019.
  9. Sep 10 2019
    Application (19A287) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from September 25, 2019 to November 24, 2019, submitted to Justice Alito.