Brown v. United States, No. 09-10142 (11th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, convicted of murder and robbery, appealed the district court's denial of his motion to vacate under 28 U.S.C. 2255. Petitioner contended that: (1) he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his penalty-phase counsel inadequately investigated and presented mitigating background evidence; (2) penalty-phase counsel inadequately investigated and presented mental health evidence; (3) he was denied a fair and impartial jury and a reliable sentencing proceeding in the absence of any record of one juror's voir dire; and (4) he was denied conflict-free section 2255 counsel. Because the court's ineffective assistance analysis required it to weigh the evidence in aggravation against the totality of the available mitigating evidence, the court concluded that petitioner had not satisfied Strickland v. Washington's prejudice prong. The court rejected defendant's remaining arguments and affirmed the judgment.
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