Greene v. Upton, No. 09-15723 (11th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseThis case stemmed from defendant's spree of murder and mayhem that covered three counties of rural Georgia. Defendant was convicted of malice murder, armed robbery, and aggravated assault. Defendant was sentenced to death and appealed the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. At issue was whether the prosecution's exercise of six peremptory challenges against six black members of the jury venire on the basis of race was in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Also at issue was whether certain arguments made by the prosecutor amounted to misconduct that deprived defendant of a fair trial. The court held that the adjudication of defendant's Batson claims and prosecutorial misconduct claims by the Supreme Court of Georgia was not contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law, and was not an unreasonable determination of the facts. Therefore, the court held that, after careful review of the record, defendant's claims lacked merit. The court further held that three remaining claims raised by defendant also failed. Accordingly, the court affirmed the conviction and sentence.
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