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Nicholas Noelani D. Smith v. Alabama

IFP petition · Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, No. CR-2022-0504 · judgment June 28, 2024


Certiorari denied · October 6, 2025

Question presented

Whether a criminal defendant in a capital trial is deprived of his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process, as set forth in Beck v. Alabama, when the evidence at trial would support a finding of voluntary intoxication negating specific intent as an element of capital murder, but the trial court fails to instruct the jury to consider any lesser-included offenses to capital murder.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Angela Leigh Setzer

For respondent
Edmund Gerard LaCour Jr.
Office of the Attorney General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Linked docket
24A1094

Proceedings

  1. Oct 06 2025
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Aug 14 2025
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2025.
  3. Jul 24 2025
    Brief of respondent Alabama in opposition filed.
  4. Jun 20 2025
    Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due July 24, 2025)
  5. May 15 2025
    Application (24A1094) granted by Justice Thomas extending the time to file until June 21, 2025.
  6. May 12 2025
    Application (24A1094) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from May 22, 2025 to June 23, 2025, submitted to Justice Thomas.