In Rhode v. Hall, No. 08-16960 (Sept. 17, 2009), the Court affirmed the denial of habeas relief to a Georgia inmate sentenced to death for three 1998 murders.
The Court rejected all of Rhode’s ineffective assistance of counsel claims. The Court found that counsel adequately investigated mitigation evidence, having, inter alia, traveled out of state to interview ten possible mitigation witnesses.
The Court also rejected a challenge to the presentation of mitigation evidence, pointing out that defense counsel called nine witnesses during the penalty phase. Counsel could not be faulted for not calling witnesses that counsel viewed as cumulative, or for presenting evidence that the jury might have viewed as aggravating, not mitigating.
The Court distinguished cases where counsel had failed to investigate voluminous mitigating evidence, or failed to examine the files that the prosecutor had warned would be used at trial.
