The US Supreme Court's Monday orders list is here. No new cases were taken up for full briefing and argument. That is not surprising, because the Court issued an order Friday after the conference taking up two cases, both civil.
Justice Sotomayor dissents from denial of certiorari in Hodge v. Kentucky, No. 11-10974. This is a capital case in which the defendant claims ineffective assistance of counsel from failure of the trial lawyer to bring up "bad childhood" evidence with no connection to the crime.
While the absence of a connection to the crime does not render such evidence irrelevant under the rule of Lockett v. Ohio, I think a court is entirely correct to give it reduced weight in making its "prejudice" determination under Strickland v. Washington.
Justice Sotomayor dissents from denial of certiorari in Hodge v. Kentucky, No. 11-10974. This is a capital case in which the defendant claims ineffective assistance of counsel from failure of the trial lawyer to bring up "bad childhood" evidence with no connection to the crime.
While the absence of a connection to the crime does not render such evidence irrelevant under the rule of Lockett v. Ohio, I think a court is entirely correct to give it reduced weight in making its "prejudice" determination under Strickland v. Washington.
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