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Bible v. Ryan, No. 07-99017 (7-1-09). The 9th (Gould joined by Clifton and Bybee) affirm the district court's denial of relief in this capital habeas. The 9th finds no IAC at the sentencing stage. The 9th stresses the nature of the crime (a child murder in a "heinious" fashion), and the speculative nature of the mitigation. The state supreme court had found one factor (the prior conviction) to have been error (it was not violent), but in the re-weighing, had decided that the aggravators had made any error harmless. Under the deferential AEDPA standard, the 9th defers and affirms.

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