Ambrose Sykes, Defendant Below, Appellant v. State of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee

Summary

The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Sykes's postconviction motion. It held that trial counsel's investigation of mitigating evidence was objectively unreasonable, but that Sykes failed to establish a reasonable probability that additional mitigation would have changed the death sentence; it also rejected or procedurally barred his remaining claims concerning the allocution comment, Juror No. 9, evidentiary sufficiency, expert testimony, and kidnapping. Chief Justice Strine, dissenting, would have found prejudice from counsel's deficient mitigation investigation and remanded for a new penalty phase.