Supreme Court upholds death penalty for mentally impaired Ala. man with inexperienced lawyer

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence of a mentally impaired Alabama man who killed his former lover.

The court, in a 7-2 vote, refused to overturn the death sentence of Holly Wood, who was convicted in the shooting death of his former girlfriend, Ruby Lois Gosha, in 1993. She was killed by a shotgun blast to her head as she slept in her home in Troy, Ala.M

A federal judge had tossed out the death sentence on the basis of the poor performance of Wood's lawyer in the sentencing phase of his trial. The lawyer, described in court papers as lacking criminal law experience, failed to tell jurors that Wood had an IQ of less than 70 and had been classified as mentally retarded.

The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the death sentence, ruling that Wood had failed to show that the lawyers was unconstitutionally ineffective.

The Supreme Court agreed. "Even if it is debatable, it is not unreasonable to conclude that ... counsel made a strategic decision not inquire further into the information contained in the report about Wood's mental deficiencies and not present to the jury such information," Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.

She was joined in the opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito.

Justice John Paul Stevens and Anthony Kennedy dissented, with Stevens saying he cannot see why Wood's lawyer did not investigate or present "powerful mitigating evidence of Wood's mental deficits for the penalty phase" of the trial.

"The only reasonable factual conclusion I can draw from this record is that counsel's decision to do so was the result of inattention and neglect," he said.

The case is Wood v. Allen, 08-9156.

Source: Associated Press, January 20, 2010

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