United States Sixth Circuit

Habeas petition was properly dismissed where: 1) State court applied an incorrect standard of proof in denying death row inmate's ineffective assistance of counsel claim, but it reached the correct outcome; 2) the excluded testimony of a co-defendant was of a cumulative nature; and 3) the prosecutor committed harmless error in minimizing the jury's role in determining the appropriateness of a death sentence.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/18/2008
• Published 12/18/2008

Judges

• Before:  BOGGS, Chief Judge;  and NORRIS and MOORE, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Sixth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Stephen Alan Ferrell, Federal Defender Services, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellant.  Jennifer Lynn Smith, Office of the Tennessee Attorney General, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellee.   ON BRIEF:  Stephen Alan Ferrell, Federal Defender Services, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellant.   Jennifer Lynn Smith, Office of the Tennessee Attorney General, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellee.