Casey A. McWhorter v. Jefferson S. Dunn, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, et al.

This case presents important issues concerning a criminal defendant’s constitutional rights to an impartial jury and to the effective assistance of counsel in a death penalty mitigation proceeding. Petitioner respectfully presents three issues for review, each of which warrants the involvement of this Court:

1. Whether a federal court violates 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2) when, in determining whether a state court’s factual findings were reasonable, it expressly declines to consider evidence in the record that contradicts the state court’s findings.

2. Whether McDonough Power Equipment, Inc. v. Greenwood, 464 U.S. 548 (1984), which established the standard for whether the presence of a biased juror deprived the defendant of an impartial jury, requires the defendant to establish that the juror’s bias actually affected her judgment about the case.

3. Whether a federal court violates 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2) when it concludes that counsel conducted an adequate penalty phase investigation even though trial counsel fundamentally misunderstood what mitigation evidence was.