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Neal v. Puckett

A petition for habeas corpus is denied, because the Mississippi Supreme Court's conclusion, although incorrect, was not an unreasonable application of Strickland v. Washington .

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Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi

Howard Neal was sentenced to death by the state courts of Mississippi for the brutal rape and murder of his thirteen-year-old niece, Amanda Joy Neal. He also shot and killed his brother, Bobby Neal, and he raped and murdered his niece’s fourteen-year-old friend, all during the same episode. He now seeks federal habeas corpus relief on the grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. Neal argues that his counsel failed to thoroughly investigate Neal’s background–including his horrid childhood of rejection, abandonment, and mental institutions, plus his torturous prison experience–to uncover evidence of mitigating circumstances that he could have presented to the jury during the sentencing phase of his trial. Neal raised this ineffective counsel claim before the Mississippi Supreme Court. That court denied relief, concluding that the additional evidence would have been cumulative of what actually was presented. Because we conclude that the Mississippi Supreme Court’s conclusion, although incorrect, was not an unreasonable application of Strickland v. Washington, we deny Neal’s request for a writ of habeas corpus.

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