Supreme Court of the United States
Abdul-Kabir, Fka Cole v. Quarterman
April 25, 2007550 U.S. 233
Summary
The Court held that the Texas capital-sentencing instructions did not give the jury a meaningful means to consider and give mitigating effect to evidence concerning Abdul-Kabir's childhood neglect, abandonment, and impaired impulse control. The state courts' rejection of his claim was contrary to, and an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law under AEDPA because the special issues did not permit the jury to express a reasoned moral response to mitigating evidence bearing on culpability beyond deliberateness and future dangerousness. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Scalia, in separate dissents, would have denied relief because the governing law was unsettled and the state court's application was reasonable under AEDPA.
Holding
- Meaningful consideration of mitigating evidence in capital sentencing. The Texas special issues did not provide a meaningful vehicle for the jury to consider and give mitigating effect to Abdul-Kabir's evidence of childhood deprivation, abandonment, and impaired self-control insofar as that evidence bore on his moral culpability beyond deliberateness and future dangerousness.
- AEDPA review of the state court's merits decision. The state court's denial of Abdul-Kabir's claim was both contrary to and an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law, so federal habeas relief was warranted.
Docket 05-11284
Cited authorities
- 28 U.S.C. § 2254
- 28 U.S.C. § 2254
- 28 U.S.C. § 2254
- 28 U.S.C. § 2254
- Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §2929.04