White v. Dingle, No. 13-1203 (8th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, convicted of first-degree felony murder and attempted first-degree premeditated murder, appealed the district court's denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254. The court rejected petitioner's claim that counsel was ineffective by failing to discover that the jury foreperson worked at the same casino as the victim's roommate because petitioner failed to demonstrate prejudice where there was no evidence that the foreperson knew the roommate or that there was any jury bias; the court expanded the certificate of appealability (COA) to include petitioner's claim of juror partiality under 28 U.S.C. 2254(d)(2); the Minnesota Supreme Court's legal determination that petitioner failed to support his claim that the foreperson was unable to be impartial was reasonable; and the district court did not err by denying the request for an evidentiary hearing. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
Court Description: Prisoner case - Habeas. While White's counsel should have investigated a potential workplace connection between a juror and the victim's roommate, the omission did not render counsel ineffective under Strickland as White has failed to present any evidence the two people knew each other or any evidence of bias; the court expands White's certificate of appealability to review his claim of juror partiality, but the claim is rejected as the state court's finding that White had failed to show partiality is not unreasonable; district court did not err in denying White's request for an evidentiary hearing.
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