Supreme Court of the United States
Lance v. Sellers
January 7, 2019
Summary
The Supreme Court denied the petition for a writ of certiorari, and Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Ginsburg and Kagan, dissented, arguing that the state court’s conclusion that the lack of mitigating evidence caused no prejudice was unreasonable under Strickland and the AEDPA. The dissent contends that counsel’s failure to investigate Lance’s cognitive impairments deprived him of a meaningful opportunity to present mitigating evidence, warranting reversal of the death sentence.