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Carlos Guardado v. Massachusetts

Paid petition · Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, No. SJC-13315 · judgment October 26, 2023


Certiorari denied · June 24, 2024
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before and a circuit split argued in the petition, and down for a state or local-government respondent.

Question presented

In Burks v. United States, 437 U.S. 1, 11 (1978), this Court held that when the evidence the prosecution introduced at a criminal trial is legally insufficient to support a finding of guilt, “[t]he Double Jeopardy Clause forbids a second trial for the purpose of affording the prosecution another opportunity to supply evidence which it failed to muster in the first proceeding.” The question presented in this case is whether there is an exception to this Court’s holding in Burks that gives the prosecution a second trial in which to supply missing evidence when there was a change in the law after the first proceeding was complete.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
David Jacob Zimmer
Goodwin Procter LLP

For respondent
Anna E. Lumelsky
Massachusetts Attorney General's Office

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Linked docket
23A632

Proceedings

  1. Jun 24 2024
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jun 04 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/20/2024.
  3. Jun 03 2024
    Reply of petitioner Carlos Guardado filed. (Distributed)
  4. May 30 2024
    Waiver of the 14-day waiting period for the distribution of the petition pursuant to Rule 15.5 filed by petitioner.
  5. May 28 2024
    Brief of respondent Massachusetts in opposition filed.
  6. Apr 05 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including May 28, 2024.
  7. Apr 04 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 25, 2024 to May 28, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
  8. Mar 26 2024
    Response Requested. (Due April 25, 2024)
  9. Mar 20 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/12/2024.
  10. Mar 18 2024
    Brief amici curiae of National Association for Public Defense and Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers filed. (Distributed)
  11. Mar 14 2024
    Waiver of right of respondent Massachusetts to respond filed.
  12. Feb 14 2024
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 18, 2024)
  13. Jan 09 2024
    Application (23A632) granted by Justice Jackson extending the time to file until February 14, 2024.
  14. Jan 05 2023
    Application (23A632) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from January 24, 2024 to February 14, 2024, submitted to Justice Jackson.