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By Shari Allison

U.S. Supreme Court :Jefferson v. Upton, 2010 WL 2025209 (5/24/10) (per curiam) - Another example of the S.Ct. reaching out to correct an error, this time for a good reason. The Court remanded a death penalty habeas denial by the 11th Circuit. Under pre-AEDPA law, the S. Ct. held the 11th erred by only considering the question whether the state court's factual finding was supported by the evidence, rather than also whether the state afforded the petitioner a full and fair hearing, in deciding whether the factual finding must be presumed correct. The petitioner claimed his counsel acted unreasonably when they failed to investigate the mental health damage caused by a car running over the petitioner's head when he was 2 years old. At the Georgia state court hearing, although an expert's written report said counsel should look into the head injury, counsel testified the expert had said orally that it may be a waste of time to do that...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on June 07, 2010 (boomark / email).