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Third Circuit grant of PP relief

By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

The Third Circuit has granted penalty phase relief in Bond v. Beard , No. 06-9002, 06-9003.  The reason for relief is  a stunningly common rationale: trial counsel  failed to adequately investigate the Condemned’s social history. Counsel for Bond failed to meet this constitutional minimum. Had they investigated Bond?s background and mental health, they would have presented a starkly different picture of Bond to the jury at the penalty phase than the one they actually presented. A reasonable lawyer who understood Bond?s life history would not have proceeded on the theory that he had led a productive life before going on a crime spree as a result of a series of disappointments. Such an attorney instead would have presented evidence to the jury of Bond?s abusive and neglectful family life, his low intelligence, and his psychiatric and psychological problems...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on August 20, 2008 (boomark / email).