Leslie Galloway III was sentenced to death after his trial counsel conducted a
constitutionally inadequate investigation that failed to uncover his excruciating life
history and resulting serious impairments, including Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder. The Mississippi Supreme Court excused trial counsel's failure to conduct
even a minimally adequate investigation by hypothesizing that he may have had an
"alternate strategy" of "humanizing" Mr. Galloway, and thus deemed the failure to
investigate not deficient performance.

The question presented is:

Whether the Mississippi Supreme Court, by excusing trial counsel's failure to
conduct a minimally adequate investigation on the basis of an attribution of trial
strategy, flouted this Court's precedents and conflicted with decisions other federal
circuits and state high courts requiring counsel to conduct sufficient investigation to
inform a strategic decision?

whether-post-hoc-speculation-about-strategy-can-excuse-a-failure-to-conduct-reasonable-investigation