Court accepts Va. death row inmate's appeal (May 12, 2008)

A jury convicted Edward N. Bell for the murder of a Winchester, Va., police officer in 1999. He was sentenced to death. After unsuccessfully appealing his conviction and sentence in state court on direct review and in state habeas proceedings, Bell filed a petition in federal district court for a writ of habeas corpus.

The district court dismissed Bell’s petition, and he appealed, arguing that the district court erred in concluding that the dismissal by the state court of his ineffective assistance of counsel claim was reasonable.

On Jan. 4, 2008, a unanimous three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond affirmed the lower court’s decision.

In asking the Supreme Court to review the case, Bell’s counsel argued: “the jury that sentenced [him] to death heard hours of testimony in aggravation and no evidence at all in mitigation. The case comes to this court with an undisturbed finding that the mitigation investigation conducted by Bell’s trial attorneys was constitutionally deficient.”

Counsel also pointed out that there is a circuit split over this issue and asked the high court to set the record straight.

On May 12, 2008, the court accepted the case for review. Oral arguments will be heard during its fall term beginning Oct. 6. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., ordered the state to delay Bell’s execution, scheduled for July 24.

Question presented:
Whether 28 U.S.C 2254, the federal habeas provision governing claims adjudicated on the merits in state court, should be applied to claims based on evidence of ineffective assistance of counsel the state court refused to consider.