Garcia v. Stephens, No. 13-70034 (5th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, a death row inmate, appealed the denial of federal habeas relief on his intellectual disability and ineffective assistance of counsel claims. Petitioner contended that he was entitled to a certificate of appealability (COA) for his claim that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by choosing Dr. Quijano as their classification expert and eliciting testimony from him about race and ethnicity as factors for determining future dangerousness. The court denied petitioner's request for a certificate of appealability where plaintiff failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. In light of the overwhelming evidence of future dangerousness, reasonable jurists would not debate the district court's conclusion that there was not a reasonable probability that the jury would have answered the special issues differently in the absence of Dr. Quijano's isolated testimony about race and ethnicity.
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