In Johnson v. Upton, No. 09-16090, a capital habeas matter, the court affirmed the denial of petitioner’s habeas petition, holding that 1) it was not objectively unreasonable for an attorney to assume that if there were some powerful reason for his client’s escape from pretrial detention other than the usual reason for escapes (not wanting to be convicted and in jail), the client would have told him that reason when they discussed the impact the escape evidence would have at trial; 2) the victim’s death certificate would not put a reasonably competent attorney on notice of a need to do more discovery or to obtain testimony from a medical expert; and 3) trial counsel’s investigation into mitigating circumstances was not objectively unreasonable.
Related Resources
- Full Text of Johnson v. Upton, No. 09-16090
- Full Text of US v. Zaldivar, No. 09-12035
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