Roberts v. Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, No. 10-15259 (11th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, an Alabama state prisoner, appealed from the district court's denial of his 28 U.S.C. 2254 habeas petition challenging his conviction for capital murder. Because petitioner could not show prejudice based on his counsel's failure to investigate and to present evidence in support of the insanity defense, the district court's denial of his Strickland claim was affirmed. The court could not say that the state appellate court's denial of petitioner's Beck claim in this case was an unreasonable application of Supreme Court precedent. Because Alabama law did not require the judge to follow the jury's recommendation no matter the number of jurors recommending life, the court could not state that the Alabama Supreme Court's affirmance of the appellate court's remand for judge-only resentencing was an unreasonable application of clearly established law. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
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