⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Ninth Circuit hears Leeman v. Thornell. In 1993, seventeen-year-old Angela Leeman brought her eight-month-old son to a Tucson emergency room. He was critically ill, with infection, bruises, and at least ten broken bones. Prosecutors could not establish which caretaker caused particular injuries; their theory was that either Leeman or her twenty-nine-year-old co-defendant inflicted them and the other permitted them. A jury convicted Leeman of thirteen child-abuse counts, and she received sixty-one years. After state post-conviction litigation, she sought federal habeas relief. Count One punished failing to obtain medical care; Count Eight punished causing or permitting a left-humerus fracture. The district court denied relief. Both sides now say the two counts could rest on the same conduct, violating double jeopardy, and ask the Ninth Circuit to vacate Count Eight. The panel also tests whether it must defer to the state court under AEDPA or review the claim anew.

Leeman v. Thornell, et al. (No. 25-1419) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argued September 17, 2026.