In re Champion

Summary

The California Supreme Court denied Steve Allen Champion’s habeas petition challenging the effectiveness of counsel at the penalty phase of his capital trial. Although counsel’s investigation was incomplete, the court concluded that Champion failed to establish prejudice because the proposed mitigation was weak, disputed, or subject to substantial rebuttal, and would not have created a reasonable probability of a different sentence. The court also deferred to the referee’s credibility findings and upheld the referee’s factual determinations.