Trevino v. Davis, No. 15-70019 (5th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CasePetitioner seeks a certificate of appealability (COA) to challenge the district court's dismissal, on the pleadings and without an evidentiary hearing, of his habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. 2254. Petitioner claimed that he was deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel when his trial counsel allegedly failed to adequately investigate and present mitigation evidence at the punishment phase of his capital murder trial. The court concluded that reasonable jurists could debate whether the district court correctly dismissed his habeas claim with respect to potential evidence of his fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or, more broadly, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD); reasonable jurists would agree that the district court erred in prematurely dismissing that claim; but no reasonable jurist could debate whether the district court erred in dismissing his habeas claim with respect to his additional character witness testimony that is not relevant to an FASD diagnosis or whether the district court erred by failing to hold an evidentiary hearing before its dismissal on the pleadings. Accordingly, the court granted in part and denied in part the COA.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on June 27, 2017.
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