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Supreme Court of the United States No. ________ IN THE Supreme Court of the United States dNIKKO A. JENKINS, Petitioner, —v.— STATE OF NEBRASKA, Respondent. ON PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF NEBRASKA PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI Brian W. Stull David D. Cole Cassandra Stubbs Counsel of Record AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION UNION FOUNDATION 201 W. Main Street, Suite 402 915 15th Street, NW Durham, NC 27701 Washington, D.C. 20005 Amy A. Miller (212) 549-2500 [email protected] ACLU OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION Jennesa Calvo-Friedman 134 S. 13th St. #1010 AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES Lincoln, NE 68508 UNION FOUNDATION Thomas C. Riley 125 Broad Street New York, NY 10004 DOUGLAS COUNTY PUBLIC DEFENDER 1819 Farnam Street H05 Civic Center Omaha, NE 68183 **CAPITAL CASE** QUESTIONS PRESENTED Severely mentally ill since the age of eight, Nikko Jenkins was imprisoned in Nebraska for armed robbery at age seventeen. He was held in solitary confinement for nearly five years—including for more than two years immediately preceding his release. He exhibited severe mental illness and self- mutilation in solitary confinement, and repeatedly sought assistance, including requests that he be civilly committed as a danger to others rather than released. The State ignored his pleas, and released him directly from solitary confinement to the community, without any assistance or transition. Within three weeks of release, he killed four people. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death, under a Nebraska law that authorizes a panel of judges, rather than a jury, to make factual findings necessary to impose a sentence of death. The questions presented are: (1) Whether the sentencing court violated the requirement of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment that capital sentencers give meaningful consideration and effect to all mitigating evidence, when it categorically refused to consider the impact of prolonged solitary confinement and the State’s inadequate response, because it concluded that the solitary confinement was warranted. (2) Whether a capital sentencing scheme that requires a jury to find aggravating factors, but authorizes judges, rather than a jury, to make all further factual findings necessary to the imposition of a sentence of death, violates the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. i TABLE OF CONTENTS QUESTIONS PRESENTED ........................................ i TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ....................................... v PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI ............. 1 OPINIONS BELOW ................................................... 1 JURISDICTION .......................................................... 1 CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY PROVISIONS INVOLVED ...................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................... 4 STATEMENT OF THE CASE .................................... 5 REASONS FOR GRANTING THE PETITION ....... 15 I. THE PANEL’S CATEGORICAL REFUSAL TO CONSIDER AS MITIGATING EVIDENCE JENKINS’ FIFTY-EIGHT MONTHS OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT AND THE DELETERIOUS EFFECTS ON HIS MENTAL STATE VIOLATED THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT. ................................................. 15 A. Refusing to Consider the Effects of Solitary Confinement as Mitigating Evidence Flouts This Court’s Directives Regarding Mitigation. .................................................. 15 B. The Nebraska Courts’ Failure to Consider the Effects of Prolonged Solitary Confinement Defies the Widespread Consensus that Such Treatment Has Debilitating Effects on Mental Health. ..... 20 ii II. THE COURT SHOULD GRANT CERTIORARI TO RESOLVE A FULLY MATURE SPLIT AMONG STATE COURTS OF LAST RESORT AS TO WHETHER A JURY MUST FIND ALL FACTS NECESSARY FOR THE IMPOSITION OF A DEATH SENTENCE, OR NEED ONLY FIND AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES. .......................................... 25 A. The State Supreme Courts of Florida, Delaware, Colorado, and Arizona Hold that a Jury Must Find All Facts Necessary for the Imposition of a Sentence of Death. ..................................... 27 B. The Court Below and Four Other State Supreme Courts Have Ruled that the Sixth Amendment Requires That a Jury Find Only the Presence of Aggravating Factors, and Permits Judges to Make Other Factual Findings Necessary to Impose a Death Sentence. .................................................... 31 C. The Decision Below is Incorrect Because the Sixth Amendment Requires a Jury to Find All Facts Necessary to the Imposition of a Death Sentence. ............... 34 III. THIS CASE IS AN EXCELLENT VEHICLE FOR ADDRESSING TWO IMPORTANT DEATH PENALTY QUESTIONS. ................... 37 CONCLUSION .......................................................... 39 APPENDIX ................................................................ 1a Opinion, Supreme Court of Nebraska (July 19, 2019) ..................................................... 1a iii Order of Sentence, District Court of Douglas County, Nebraska (May 31, 2017) .................... 70a Order, Nebraska Supreme Court (Aug. 9, 2019) ................................................... 112a Ombudsman’s Report, State of Nebraska, Office of the Public Counsel/Ombudsman (Dec. 9, 2013) ................................................... 113a Report to the Nebraska State Legislature, Department of Correctional Services Special Investigative Committee (Dec. 15, 2014)........ 261a iv TABLE OF AUTHORITIES CASES Abdul-Kabir v. Quarterman, 550 U.S. 233 (2007) ... 16 Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000) .... 34, 36 Buchanan v. Angelone, 522 U.S. 269 (1998) ............ 16 California v. Brown, 479 U.S. 538 (1987) ................ 18 Casey v. Lewis, 834 F. Supp. 1477 (D. Ariz. 1993) .. 22 Coleman v. Wilson, 912 F. Supp. 1282 (E. D. Cal. 1995) ..................... 22 Davis v. Ayala, 135 S. Ct. 2187 (2015) ............... 20. 21 Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104 (1982) ................................... 16, 17, 18 Ex parte Bohannon, 222 So. 3d 525 (Ala. 2016) ...... 33 Glossip v. Gross, 135 S. Ct. 2726 (2015) .................. 25 Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976) ..................... 37 Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016) .. 27, 34, 35, 36 Hurst v. State, 202 So. 3d 40 (Fla. 2016) ........... 28, 36 In re Medley, 134 U.S. 160 (1890) ...................... 20, 21 Indiana Prot. & Advocacy Servs. Comm’n v. Comm’r, Indiana Dep’t of Corr., No. 1:08-cv-01317- TWP-MJD, 2012 WL 6738517 (S.D. Ind. Dec. 31, 2012) ....................................... 22 Johnson v. State, 256 So. 3d 684 (Ala. Crim. App. 2017) ................. 33 Johnson v. State, 59 P.3d 450 (Nev. 2002) ............... 30 Jones‘El v. Berge, 164 F. Supp. 2d 1096 (W.D. Wis. 2001) ................ 22 v Kirksey v. State, 243 So. 3d 849 (Ala. Crim. App. 2017) ................. 33 Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586 (1978) .................. 16, 17 Nevada v. Jackson, 569 U.S. 505 (2013) ................. 18 Nunnery v. State, 263 P.3d 235 (Nev. 2011) ............ 31 Palakovic v. Wetzel, 854 F.3d 209 (3d Cir. 2017)............................. 21, 22 Parker v. Dugger, 498 U.S. 308 (1991) ............... 17, 18 Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808 (1991) .................. 16 Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302 (1989) .............. 17, 18 People v. Banks, 934 N.E.2d 435 (Ill. 2010) ............. 34 People v. Davis, 793 N.E.2d 552 (Ill. 2002) .............. 34 Rauf v. State, 145 A.3d 430 (Del. 2016) ............. 29, 32 Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002) ........... 30, 35, 36 Roberts v. Warden, San Quentin State Prison, No. CIV S-93-0254 GEB, 2013 WL 416346, (E.D. Cal. Jan. 31, 2013) ....................................... 21 Rogers v. State, No. SC18-150, 2019 WL 4197021 (Fla. Sept. 5, 2019).................. 21 Russell v. State, 261 So. 3d 454 (Ala. Crim. App. 2016) ................. 33 Skipper v. South Carolina, 476 U.S. 1 (1986) .......... 16 State v. Barker, 826 N.E.2d 648 (Ind. 2005) ............ 33 State v. Lamar, 115 P.3d 611 (Ariz. 2005) ............... 30 State v. Lotter, 917 N.W.2d 850 (Neb. 2018) ............... 31, 35, 36, 38 State v. Mata, 745 N.W.2d 229 (Neb. 2008) ............. 35 vi State v. Ring, 65 P.3d 915 (Ariz. 2003) .................... 30 State v. Wood, 580 S.W.3d 566 (Mo. 2019) ............... 32 Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522 (1975) ................ 36 Tennard v. Dretke, 542 U.S. 274 (2004) ................... 16 United States v. Fields, 761 F.3d 443 (5th Cir. 2014) ................................. 21 United States v. Jayyousi, 657 F.3d 1085, (11th Cir. 2011) ............................ 21 United States v. Lara, 905 F.2d 599 (2d Cir. 1990)................................... 21 Wimbley v. State, 238 So. 3d 1268 (Ala. Crim. App. 2017) ............... 33 Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510 (1968) ............ 37 Woldt v. People, 64 P.3d 256 (Colo. 2003) ................ 30 Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280 (1976) .... 17 CONSTITUTION & STATUTES U.S. Const. amend. VI ....................................... passim U.S. Const. amend. VII ..................................... passim 18 U.S.C. § 3593 ........................................................ 27 34 U.S.C. § 10132 NOTE .......................................... 22 21 Okla. Stat. Ann. § 701.11 .................................... 26 42 Pa. Stat. and Cons. Stat. Ann. § 9711 ................. 27 Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-752 ........................................... 26 Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-603 .......................................... 26 Cal. Penal Code § 190.4(b) ........................................ 26 Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-1.3-1201..................................
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