Strong v. Roper, No. 11-3046 (8th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, convicted of two counts of capital murder and sentenced to death, appealed the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254. The court concluded that petitioner failed to demonstrate that the trial court unreasonably determined that the prosecutor's strike of two African-American venirepersons was not motivated by race; there was no error in the admission of one of the victim's out-of-court statements regarding a prior assault by petitioner to a police officer; petitioner's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel regarding the investigation and presentation of mitigation evidence were rejected; and even if the PowerPoint presentation at issue should not have been shown to the jury, it did not render the trial fundamentally unfair and the resulting verdict did not constitute a denial of due process. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's judgment.
Court Description: Prisoner case - habeas. Denial of Strong's challenges to the prosecutor's peremptory strikes of two African-American venirepersons did not violate his equal protection rights; admission of murder victim's out-of-court statements to a police officer regarding an assault she suffered at Strong's hands did not violate his confrontation clause rights; claim of ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase rejected; prosecutor's use of a PowerPoint presentation during the penalty phase proceedings did not deprive Strong of his right to a fundamentally fair trial.
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