Sears v. Humphrey
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In 1993, Demarcus Sears was convicted of kidnapping with bodily injury and armed robbery in connection with the death of Gloria Wilbur, who was kidnapped and robbed of her automobile in Georgia, raped in Tennessee, and murdered in Kentucky. The jury recommended a death sentence for the kidnapping with bodily injury after finding multiple statutory aggravating circumstances, including that the kidnapping with bodily injury was committed while Sears was engaged in the commission of the capital felony of murder. After affirming each of his convictions and the life sentence for the armed robbery, the Supreme Court remanded the case for proceedings related to Sears' claim of jury misconduct at the sentencing phase. In 2000, Sears filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging among other claims, that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel. In an order filed in early 2008, the habeas court denied Sears' petition, and the Supreme Court denied Sears' application for a certificate of probable cause to appeal upon concluding that it lacked “arguable merit.” However, in a per curiam opinion, the United States Supreme Court granted Sears' petition for a writ of certiorari and held that, with regard to Sears' ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim, the habeas court failed to conduct a proper prejudice analysis under "Strickland v. Washington," (466 U. S. 668 (1984)). The federal Supreme Court then vacated the Georgia Court's order denying Sears' application for a certificate of probable cause to appeal and remanded the case for further proceedings not inconsistent with its opinion. In 2011, after a new habeas judge was assigned to the case and after a hearing, the habeas court entered a new order which adopted the 2008 Order with regard to all of Sears' claims except for his ineffective assistance of counsel claim, once again denying him relief on those claims. With regard to the ineffective assistance claim, the habeas court concluded that, even if he could prove that trial counsel rendered deficient performance, Sears had failed to prove that he was constitutionally prejudiced as a result. The Georgia Supreme Court granted Sears' application for a certificate of probable cause to appeal from the 2011 Order. After review of the 2011 order, the Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Sears' habeas petition.
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