Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Stephen Gustus v. United States
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 18-2303 · judgment June 14, 2019
Before the decision, about 4.1× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a circuit split argued in the petition, and an Eighth Circuit decision below.
Question presented
18 U.S.C. §111 criminalizes “assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees” of the federal government. As Judge Kelly explained below (and several other courts of appeals have noted) there is a recognized disagreement among the federal circuits over whether this is a specific-intent or general-intent offense. The distinction matters because—among other things—defendants charged with specific-intent crimes may offer a defense at trial based on diminished capacity (like mental defect or intoxication) while defendants charged with general-intent crimes may not. Petitioner here was accused of “assaulting, impeding, or interfering with” a postal service employee and precluded from offering any diminished-capacity defense on the sole ground that §111 is a general-intent crime. The question presented is: Whether 18 U.S.C. §111 is a specific-intent or general-intent offense.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Eric F. Citron
Goldstein & Russell, P.C.
For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day
Proceedings
- Jun 22 2020Petition DENIED.
- Jun 02 2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/18/2020.
- Jun 02 2020Reply of petitioner Stephen Gustus filed. (Distributed)
- May 08 2020Motion to delay distribution of the petition for a writ certiorari until June 2, 2020, granted.
- May 07 2020Motion of petitioner to delay distribution of the petition for a writ of certiorari under Rule 15.5 from May 19, 2020 to June 2, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- May 01 2020Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
- Apr 15 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including May 1, 2020.
- Apr 14 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 29, 2020 to May 1, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- Mar 13 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including April 29, 2020.
- Mar 12 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 30, 2020 to April 29, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 21 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 30, 2020.
- Feb 20 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 27, 2020 to March 30, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jan 27 2020Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 27, 2020)
- Dec 30 2019Application (19A588) granted by Justice Gorsuch extending the time to file until January 27, 2020.
- Dec 20 2019Application (19A588) to extend further the time from January 7, 2020 to January 27, 2020, submitted to Justice Gorsuch.
- Nov 25 2019Application (19A588) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 8, 2019 to February 6, 2020, submitted to Justice Gorsuch.
- Nov 25 2019Application (19A588) granted by Justice Gorsuch extending the time to file until January 7, 2020.