Charles Grover Brant v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al.
DueProcess HabeasCorpus Punishment Patent JusticiabilityDoctri
1. Whether a federal circuit court is patently wrong in denying a Certificate of
Appealability in a capital case where a state habeas petitioner identifies specific
failings by trial counsel, offers overwhelming detailed mitigation discovered in
collateral proceedings centrally relevant to the facts of the crime, and identifies
objectively unreasonable applications of clearly established federal law by the
state court.
2. Whether a state court's unreasonable application of this Court's Strickland
prejudice standard in applying a piece-meal prejudice analysis to a claim- which
necessarily diminishes the assessment of the weight of mitigation presented —
presents a claim debatable among jurists of reason when four other federal
circuits have held failure to assess prejudice in its totality is an unreasonable
application of clearly established federal law.
Whether a federal circuit court is patently wrong in denying a Certificate of Appealability in a capital case where a state habeas petitioner identifies specific failings by trial counsel and offers overwhelming detailed mitigation discovered in collateral proceedings