TANZI WARRANT: SCOTUS petition filed
Michael Tanzi’s execution is scheduled for April 8 at 6:00 p.m. Friday, Tanzi, through his attorneys, filed a petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of the Florida Supreme Court’s decision.
Michael Tanzi’s execution is scheduled for tomorrow, April 8, 6:00 p.m. On Tuesday, the Florida Supreme Court denied his pending claims. (More here.)
On Friday, Tanzi, through his attorneys, filed a petition for writ of certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the Court’s decision as well as an application for stay of execution. On Saturday, the State filed its Brief in Opposition to Tanzi’s petition.
Petition for Writ of Certiorari
On Friday, Tanzi filed a petition for a writ of certiorari seeking the U.S. supreme Court’s review of the Florida Supreme Court’s decision denying his claims. The petition presents two questions:
The arguments presented are as follows:
The petition notes that in 2018, Justice Sotomayor dissented from the Court’s denial of certiorari in Tanzi’s case on a similar issue.
State’s Brief in Opposition
On Saturday, the State filed its Brief in Opposition to Tanzi’s petition. The State reframes the questions presented as follows:
Whether this Court should grant certiorari to review a decision of the Florida Supreme Court rejecting a claim of fact-finding error under Hurst and Erlinger where that claim was procedurally barred from review in state court and without merit in a case that presents no conflict or unsettled question of law for review.
The State argues that the Court should decline “certiorari review of the Florida Supreme Court decision rejecting a claim of fact-finding error under Hurst and Erlinger where that claim was procedurally barred from review in state court and without merit in a case that presents no conflict or unsettled question of law for review.”
As of this post, no reply has been docketed.
Application for Stay
Tanzi also filed an Application for Stay of Execution arguing that “ Tanzi’s death sentence is unreliable and violative of this Court’s Sixth Amendment jurisprudence because a judge, not a jury, made the findings of fact necessary to impose a death sentence.” The Application argues that Tanzi’s petition “resents questions of great importance regarding the analysis of a state court’s duty to give full effect to a federal constitutional holding.”
As of this post, no response has been docketed.
All of the filings can be downloaded from the Court’s docket here.
TFDP Prior Coverage of the Tanzi Warrant
My thoughts are with everyone involved in the warrant- and execution-related process.
Thanks for the update. Just KNEW the court would deny last-minute relief. My thoughts are with everyone involved.
Corrupt MAGA Rich-owned SCOTUS. … no longer respected by citizens