United States Eleventh Circuit
Rhode v. Hall, 08-16960
In a capital habeas matter, the denial of the petition is affirmed where: 1) the state court of appeals reasonably found that defense counsel thought the penalty phase strategy would involve both mitigation and residual doubt; 2) defendant and the state had the opportunity to present the state habeas court with their version of the facts; 3) the state habeas court did not unreasonably find that counsel's investigation of possible mitigation evidence was adequate; 4) the effectiveness of counsel's representation at sentencing is not an exact derivative of the amount of time counsel spends investigating mitigation evidence; and 5) the evidence that petitioner faulted counsel for not presenting to the jury was potentially aggravating or cumulative.
Appellate Information
- Decided 09/17/2009
- Published 09/17/2009
Judges
- PER CURIAM:, Before CARNES, HULL and WILSON, Circuit Judges.
Court
- United States Eleventh Circuit
Counsel
- For Appellant:
- Thomas H. Dunn and Brian S. Kammer (Court-Appointed), GA Resource Ctr., Atlanta, GA, for Rhode., Patricia Beth Attaway Burton, GA Law Dept., Atlanta, GA, for Hall.