United States Seventh Circuit

A petition for habeas relief claiming ineffective assistance of counsel, by a defendant convicted of murder and sentenced to two concurrent life sentences, is denied where: 1) court of appeals' finding that defendant received effective assistance of trial and appellate counsel was not contrary to, nor did it involve an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law; 2) an in-court statement by one of the victim's mother was ambiguous and innocuous; and 3) an out-of-court statement that the courthouse should be bombed was more serious but bears no obvious relevance to defendant's guilt or innocence and defendant has not presented any evidence that any juror was privy to the remark.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/17/2010
• Published 03/17/2010

Judges

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel