Roberts v. Thaler, No. 11-70032 (5th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CasePetitioner was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. The district court subsequently rejected his petition for habeas relief, but granted him a certificate of appealability to pursue three claims arising from his sentencing hearing dealing with, respectively, the restrictions on his expert's testimony, the alleged ineffective assistance of his trial counsel in failing to object to victim impact testimony, and the restriction on execution impact testimony. The court held that petitioner's first claim was procedurally defaulted and, alternatively, failed on the merits. Petitioner's ineffective assistance claim also failed on the merits, and his execution impact claim was procedurally barred. Therefore, the court affirmed the denial of habeas relief.
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