United States Supreme Court

In a murder prosecution, the Ninth Circuit's reversal of the denial of petitioner's habeas petition is reversed where: 1) 28 U.S.C. section 2254(d) applied to petitioner's petition, even though the state court's order was unaccompanied by an opinion explaining the court’s reasoning; and 2) the Ninth Circuit erred in holding that, because petitioner's attorney had not consulted forensic blood experts or introduced expert evidence, the State Supreme Court could not reasonably have concluded counsel provided adequate representation.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/19/2011
• Published 01/19/2011

Judges

• Anthony M. Kennedy

Court

• United States Supreme Court

Counsel