Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Devon Archer v. United States
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 18-3727 · judgment October 7, 2020
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
The district court vacated Petitioner’s convictions for securities fraud and conspiracy and ordered a new trial after concluding that the evidence weighed so heavily against the verdict that there was a serious risk of a miscarriage of justice and that an innocent person may have been convicted. The Second Circuit reversed, holding that the district court lacked discretion to weigh the evidence under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33(a), unless there was evidentiary or instructional error or “the evidence was patently incredible or defied physical realities.” The question presented is: Does Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33(a) afford district courts discretion to reweigh the evidence when evaluating a new trial motion, as eleven other federal courts of appeals have held, or does the rule require that a court “must defer to the jury’s resolution of conflicting evidence,” unless there was evidentiary or instructional error or “the evidence was patently incredible or defied physical realities,” as the Second Circuit held in this case?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Matthew Lane Schwartz
Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP
For respondent
Brian H. Fletcher
Acting Solicitor General
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage
Proceedings
- Nov 01 2021Petition DENIED.
- Oct 13 2021DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/29/2021.
- Oct 13 2021Reply of petitioner Devon Archer filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 24 2021Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
- Aug 19 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including September 24, 2021.
- Aug 18 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 25, 2021 to September 24, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jun 30 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including August 25, 2021.
- Jun 29 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response from July 26, 2021 to August 25, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jun 25 2021Brief amici curiae of Procedure Scholars filed.
- Jun 17 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including July 26, 2021.
- Jun 16 2021Motion to extend the time to file a response from June 25, 2021 to July 26, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
- May 28 2021Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Devon Archer
- May 24 2021Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 25, 2021)