United States Fifth Circuit

Grant of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in a death penalty case based on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is reversed where a state court's denial of habeas relief was not objectively unreasonable because reasonable professional judgments supported defense counsel's limited investigation into temporal lobe epilepsy as mitigating evidence, and petitioner failed to establish prejudice as a result thereof.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/08/2007
• Published 03/08/2007

Judges

• PRADO, Circuit Judge:, Before HIGGINBOTHAM, DAVIS and PRADO, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Michael B. Charlton, Law Office of Michael B. Charlton, El Prado, NM, Don Vernay, Rio Rancho, NM, for Petitioner-Appellee., Woodson Erich Dryden, Asst. Atty. Gen., Postconviction Litigation Div., Austin, TX, for Respondent-Appellant.