Clark: No habeas relief for inmate sentenced to death for 1990 murder

In Clark v. Fla. Attorney General, No. 14-15022 (April 27, 2016), the Court affirmed the denial of habeas relief to a Florida inmate sentenced to death for a 1990 murder. The Court rejected the argument that Clark received ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to present mitigating evidence. Counsel presented the same mitigating evidence earlier in a case in which the jury recommended a death sentence, and therefore had sound reason to decide against presenting the same evidence again. The Court also found that Clark did not show counsel’s failure to present mitigating evidence resulted in “prejudice.”