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William Clark Turner v. United States

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 21-16957 · judgment June 14, 2023


Certiorari denied · January 8, 2024
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. Did the inclusion of multiple alternative definitions of “intimidate” within the jury instructions for the charged violation of 49 U.S.C. section 46504 reduce the government’s burden of proof and impermissibly expand the scope of the statute when each of the alternatives failed to state the correct standard by permitting the jury to use a subjective assessment of the flight attendant and conflating the second and third elements of the offense?

  2. By adding the language “or to another” in the definition of “intimidate,” did the trial court illegally broaden the scope of the statute by allowing for intimidation of a flight attendant on the basis of a purely verbal dispute between passengers?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
David Jonathan Cohen
Bay Area Criminal Lawyers, PC

For respondent
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Jan 08 2024
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Dec 06 2023
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/5/2024.
  3. Dec 01 2023
    Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
  4. Nov 20 2023
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 22, 2023)