Cowans v. Bagley, No. 08-4393 (6th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseThe defendant was sentenced to death for murder. The district court denied a petition for habeas corpus. The Sixth Circuit affirmed, holding that Ohio state courts reasonably rejected constitutional claims. The Eighth Amendment does not preclude a defendant waiving his right to present mitigating evidence in a death penalty case or require that such a waiver be knowing and voluntary, although the Ohio court found that the defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived the right. The record supported the decision not to hold a competency hearing. A recorded re-enactment of dog-tracking between the victim's house and the defendant's home did not deny the defendant fundamental fairness. Decisions made by defense counsel were not objectively unreasonable and the defendant did not show that he was prejudiced by those decisions.
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