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Gezo Goeong Edwards v. United States

IFP petition · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, No. 25-3022 · judgment August 8, 2025


Certiorari denied · March 9, 2026

Questions presented

  1. Whether an indictment charging conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance under 21 USCS 846 and 841(a) fails to state an offense where it places the adverb "knowingly" in the future-tense which grammatically did not allege that the defendant was aware of the nature of the substance.

  2. Whether trial and appellate counsel were constitutionally ineffective under Strickland v. Washington, 466 US 668 (1984) for failing to object to this defective indictment, the missing mens rea instruction, and denial of due process, and whether the lower courts misapplied Slack v. McDaniel, 529 US 473

  3. by refusing a Certificate of Appealability on this debatable constitutional question.

  4. Whether courts may uphold indictments that grammatically misplace the mens rea term, omitting the controlled-substance knowledge element, on the rationale that the indictment "tracked the statute," contrary to Russell v. United States, 369 US 749 (1962) and United States v. Resendiz-Ponce, 549 US 102 (2007).

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Gezo Goeong Edwards

For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Mar 09 2026
    Petition DENIED. Justice Kavanaugh took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
  2. Feb 19 2026
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/6/2026.
  3. Feb 13 2026
    Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
  4. Dec 10 2025
    Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due March 9, 2026)