United States Ninth Circuit

Denial of a petition for habeas relief in a first degree murder case is affirmed in part where the Arizona Supreme Court was not objectively unreasonable in determining that a sentencing court had considered all of petitioner's proffered mitigating evidence, including the evidence presented at trial. However, a certificate of appealability is granted and the matter remanded as to one claim that petitioner's counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to investigate and present all relevant mitigating evidence at sentencing, as the district court erred by determining that the claim was unexhausted and petitioner sufficiently alleged a deprivation of a constitutional right.

Appellate Information

• Argued 03/06/2007
• Decided 06/20/2007
• Published 06/20/2007

Judges

• Before:  HAWKINS, SIDNEY R. THOMAS, and RICHARD R. CLIFTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Cary Sandman, Waterfall, Economidis, Caldwell, Hanshaw & Villamana, P.C., Tucson, AZ, for the petitioner-appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Robert J. Gorman, Arizona State Attorney General's Office, Tucson, AZ, for the respondents-appellees.