Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Harrington v. Richter (09-587), and asked parties to address whether AEDPA deference applies to a state court's summary disposition of a claim, including a claim under Strickland v. Washington.  Richter raises a question of whether a defense lawyer violates the Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel when he does not investigate or present available forensic evidence supporting the theory of defense he uses during trial, and instead relies on cross-examination and other methods designed to create reasonable doubt about the defendant's guilt.

In Richter, the Ninth Circuit granted habeas corpus relief to convicted murderer Joshua Richter because it believed that Richter's trial counsel had acted incompetently in declining to investigate and present helpful expert testimony on the source of a pool of blood found at the murder scene.  The blood had been photographed, but never tested, and on habeas, Richter argued that if the blood had been tested it would have corroborated his claim that the victim had been caught in gun crossfire, and had not been shot in cold blood. 

SCOTUSblog's Erin Miller posts a list of today's orders, and links to parties' briefs. The state's Petition for Certiorari is available here.  Richter's Brief in Opposition is available here, and the state's Reply brief is available here.