Escobedo v. Lund, No. 13-2399 (8th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseThe state appealed the district court's grant of habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. 2254 to petitioner, who was convicted of murder. The court concluded that counsel's failure to move for a mistrial after the trial court improperly substituted an alternate juror for a juror who had been dismissed was a strategic decision that did not fall below an objective standard of reasonableness under Strickland v. Washington. Further, the state court did not unreasonably apply Strickland in concluding that petitioner failed to establish prejudice. Accordingly, the court concluded that petitioner was not entitled to habeas relief and reversed the judgment of the district court.
Court Description: Prisoner case - Habeas. The district court erred in granting habeas relief on the ground counsel should have requested a mistrial after the trial court improperly substituted an alternate juror for a juror who had been dismissed for misconduct after deliberations had begun as there were significant strategic reasons for counsel's decision to allow the case to continue and the state courts' decision that counsel's course of action did not fall below an objective standard of reasonableness was not an unreasonable application of or contrary to established federal law.
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