Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

Areli Escobar v. Texas

Paid petition · Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, No. WR-81,574-02 · judgment September 27, 2023


Certiorari denied · March 24, 2025
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

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

Questions presented

  1. Whether due process of law requires reversal, where a capital conviction is so infected with errors that the State no longer seeks to defend it.

  2. Whether the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals erred in holding there was no due process violation because there is “no reasonable likelihood” that the prosecution’s use of admittedly false, misleading, and unreliable DNA evidence to secure Petitioner’s capital conviction could have affected any juror’s judgment.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Daniel Hirotsu Woofter
Goldstein, Russell & Woofter LLC

For respondent
Holly Eileen Taylor
Travis County District Attorney's Office

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 4 conferences

Amicus briefs
4 cert-stage

Linked docket
23A566

Proceedings

  1. Mar 24 2025
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Mar 17 2025
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/21/2025.
  3. Mar 04 2025
    Electronic record received from the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
  4. Mar 03 2025
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/7/2025.
  5. Mar 03 2025
    Record Requested.
  6. Feb 28 2025
    Letter from counsel for respondent Texas filed.
  7. Feb 27 2025
    Supplemental brief of petitioner Areli Escobar filed. (Distributed)
  8. Jun 03 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/6/2024.
  9. May 14 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/30/2024.
  10. May 13 2024
    Reply of petitioner Areli Escobar filed. (Distributed)
  11. May 10 2024
    Waiver of the 14-day waiting period for the distribution of the petition pursuant to Rule 15.5 filed by petitioner.
  12. May 10 2024
    Brief of respondent Texas in support filed. (Distributed)
  13. Apr 22 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including May 29, 2024.
  14. Apr 19 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 29, 2024 to May 29, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
  15. Apr 18 2024
    Brief amicus curiae of Correctional Institutions Division of The Texas Department of Criminal Justice filed.
  16. Mar 28 2024
    Brief amici curiae of Former State Attorneys General, United States Attorneys, and Prosecutors filed.
  17. Mar 28 2024
    Brief amici curiae of The Innocence Network and the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences, Inc. filed.
  18. Mar 27 2024
    Brief amicus curiae of The American Bar Association filed.
  19. Mar 18 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 29, 2024.
  20. Mar 15 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 28, 2024 to April 29, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
  21. Feb 23 2024
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 28, 2024)
  22. Jan 24 2024
    Application (23A566) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until February 23, 2024.
  23. Jan 15 2024
    Application (23A566) to extend further the time from January 25, 2024 to February 23, 2024, submitted to Justice Alito.
  24. Dec 20 2023
    Application (23A566) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until January 25, 2024.
  25. Dec 15 2023
    Application (23A566) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 26, 2023 to January 25, 2024, submitted to Justice Alito.