What is the effect of failing to present mitigating evidence in a murder case?

MultiRegion, United States of America

The following excerpt is from Doe v. Ayers, 782 F.3d 425 (9th Cir. 2015):

the jury rendered a finding of true on the felony-murder-burglary special-circumstance allegation, it rendered a finding of not true on the felony-murder-rape special-circumstance allegation. We have found prejudice from failure to present mitigating evidence in cases involving crimes substantially more heinous than Doe's. Correll,35 539 F.3d at 95155 (holding that the defendant was prejudiced by counsel's failure to present mitigating evidence despite the fact that he kidnaped three people, bound their hands and feet with duct tape, drove them into the desert, shot one of them in the head execution-style, and watched as a friend of his killed the other two); Ainsworth v. Woodford, 268 F.3d 868, 87071, 878 (9th Cir.2001) (holding that the defendant was prejudiced by counsel's failure to present mitigating evidence despite the fact that he shot a woman in the hip, raped her as she bled from the gunshot wound, and confined her in her car, at times in the trunk, for twenty-four hours until she bled to death); Hendricks,36 70 F.3d at 104445 (holding that the defendant was prejudiced by counsel's failure to present mitigating evidence despite the fact that he was convicted of murdering two men who had paid him for sex by shooting them to death at point-blank range, and was not charged with murdering three others).

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