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Peter Capote v. Alabama

Paid petition · Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, No. CR-17-0963 · judgment January 10, 2020

Certiorari denied · April 19, 2021

Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

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

Questions presented

Whether the Alabama death penalty sentencing scheme, which leaves it to the judge to find whether the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances, a factual finding essential to capital punishment, violates a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial.
Whether this Court’s decision in McKinney v. Arizona, 140 S. Ct. 702 (2020), applies when the result of a judicial “weighing process” (weighing aggravating circumstances against mitigating circumstances) increases a defendant’s potential punishment.

For petitioner
Paul Shechtman
Bracewell LLP

For respondent
Richard Dearman Anderson
Office of the Attorney General, State of Alabama

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Apr 19 2021
Petition DENIED.
Mar 31 2021
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/16/2021.
Mar 25 2021
Reply of petitioner Peter Capote filed.
Mar 15 2021
Brief of respondent State of Alabama in opposition filed.
Feb 16 2021
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 22, 2021)