Flores v. Lumpkin, No. 21-20579 (5th Cir. 2023)
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A Texas jury found Petitioner guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of six, and he was sentenced to forty-five years’ imprisonment. Petitioner challenged his conviction both on direct appeal and through state habeas proceedings, but the Texas courts denied his requests for relief. The district court denied his subsequent federal habeas petition and his request for a certificate of appealability. The Fifth Circuit granted Defendants’ application for a certificate of appealability on one issue: whether trial counsel rendered unconstitutionally ineffective assistance by failing to object to expert and lay opinion testimony regarding the truthfulness of G.P., the complainant.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed. The court explained that G.P. testified at trial and told multiple people—including his mother and his pediatrician—about the assaults well within one year of their taking place. The jury could have convicted Petitioner on this testimony alone, which is detrimental to Petitioner’s prejudice argument. The jury was presented with other evidence supporting Petitioner’s conviction as well. Ultimately, the court found that it was unconvinced that every reasonable jurist would believe it reasonably likely that Petitioner would have been acquitted absent the challenged testimony. AEDPA’s demanding standard of review thus requires us to defer to the TCCA’s decision.
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