Nicholas Newman v. United States

This petition seeks an order granting a certificate of appealability or, in the alternative, plenary review of the following questions:

1. Whether reasonable jurists could debate whether assault on a federal officer under 18 U.S.C. § 111 can be committed by reckless contact with another person (or, instead, requires the government to prove intentionality) when the statute criminalizes mere “simple assault,” numerous other federal assault crimes require mere recklessness, and no controlling Tenth Circuit precedent forecloses that construction of the statute.

2. Whether reasonable jurists could debate whether a collateral attack waiver in a plea agreement is unenforceable when it would prevent a petitioner from obtaining habeas relief from a crime of which he is actually innocent, when the Fourth Circuit has held that collateral attack waivers are unenforceable in such cases, and no controlling Tenth Circuit precedent forecloses such a holding. (i)