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Jefferson: Failure to investigate brain damage not ineffective assistance

By Tim Cone

In Jefferson v. Hall, No. 07-12502 (June 12, 2009), the Court (2-1, Carnes, J. dissenting) reversed the grant of habeas relief to a Georgia inmate sentenced to death for a 1985 murder.The Court found that counsel had not given ineffective assistance at the penalty phase of the trial. Jefferson claimed that counsel failed to present evidence of his claimed organic brain damage.The Court noted that "strategic decisions" of counsel are reviewed deferentially: no relief can be granted on ineffectiveness grounds unless it is shown that "no reasonable lawyer" would have so acted in the circumstances. The Court noted that with hindsight, it could always be said that trial counsel "could have done something different." But ineffectiveness unless redresses what was "constitutionally compelled...continue to full post

Full post as published by Defense Newsletter Blog on June 17, 2009 (boomark / email).