Hernandez v. Chappell, No. 11-99013 (9th Cir. 2019)
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The Ninth Circuit filed an order withdrawing the prior opinion and filed a new opinion affirming the district court's denial of habeas relief to petitioner's guilt-phase claims regarding his first degree murder convictions.
The panel held that, although trial counsel was constitutionally deficient by failing to present a diminished capacity defense based on mental illness, petitioner did not suffer any prejudice. In this case, the evidence of petitioner's specific intent to rape and kill both victims was overwhelming when compared to the relatively weak diminished capacity evidence that counsel could have presented, but failed to present. The panel also held that trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to subpoena a specific witness nor was petitioner prejudiced.
Court Description: Habeas Corpus. The panel filed an order withdrawing the prior opinion in this case, and filed a new opinion, which affirmed the district court’s denial of a writ of habeas corpus as to Francis Hernandez’s guilt-phase claims relating to his California state convictions for first-degree murder. The panel addressed two claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. The panel held that trial counsel was constitutionally deficient by failing to present a diminished capacity defense based on mental illness, but that Hernandez did not suffer any prejudice because the evidence of his specific intent to rape and kill both victims was overwhelming when compared to the relatively weak diminished capacity evidence that counsel could have presented, but failed to present. The panel held that trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to subpoena Laura Kostiuk as a witness.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on December 29, 2017.
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