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Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas v. United States

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 17-4039, 17-4141 · judgment December 20, 2019

Certiorari denied · October 5, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

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

Questions presented

  1. Can a jury be instructed that it may convict based on a criminal defendant’s conscious avoidance of knowledge of a necessary fact, without needing to find the defendant’s actual knowledge of that fact, where the evidence shows that the defendant was aware of a high probability that the fact existed, but does not show that the defendant took deliberate steps to avoid confirming the existence of that fact?

  2. Does the Sentencing Guidelines’ enhancement for using a private aircraft “to import” a controlled substance, U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(3)(A), apply when a private aircraft is merely used (or planned to be used) to bring the controlled substance from one place outside of the United States to another place outside of the United States, but not used (or planned to be used) to bring the controlled substance across the border into the United States? (i)

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Michael Alexander Levy
Sidley Austin LLP

For respondent
Jeffrey B. Wall
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Oct 05 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Sep 02 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
  3. Aug 27 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
  4. Aug 17 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 24, 2020)