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Criminal Procedure Keyed to Ohlin
Cullen v. Pinholster
Citation:
563 U.S. 170 (2011)Facts
Scott Lynn Pinholster and two accomplices broke into a house in the middle of the night and brutally beat and stabbed to death two men who happened to interrupt the burglary. A jury convicted Pinholster of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to death. A federal district court held an evidentiary hearing and granted Pinholster habeas relief. The district court concluded that Pinholster’s trial counsel had been constitutionally ineffective at the penalty phase of trial. Affirming the district court’s decision, the Court of Appeals held that the the California Supreme Court’s decision was contrary to clearly established federal law.
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