Cite as: 535 U. S. 685 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
He further feared that testimony about respondent's normal youth might, in the jury's eyes, cut the other way.
Respondent also focuses on counsel's decision to waive final argument. He points out that counsel could have explained the significance of his Bronze Star decoration and argues that his counsel's failure to advocate for life in closing necessarily left the jury with the impression that he deserved to die. The Court of Appeals "reject[ed] out of hand" the idea that waiving summation could ever be considered sound trial strategy. 243 F. 3d, at 979. In this case, we think at the very least that the state court's contrary assessment was not "unreasonable." After respondent's counsel gave his opening statement discussing the mitigating evidence before them and urging that they choose life for his client, the prosecution did not put on any particularly dramatic or impressive testimony. The State's witnesses testified rather briefly about the undisputed facts that respondent had prior convictions and was evading arrest.
When the junior prosecutor delivered a very matter-of-fact closing that did not dwell on any of the brutal aspects of the crime, counsel was faced with a choice. He could make a closing argument and reprise for the jury, perhaps in greater detail than his opening, the primary mitigating evidence concerning his client's drug dependency and posttraumatic stress from Vietnam. And he could plead again for life for his client and impress upon the jurors the importance of what he believed were less significant facts, such as the Bronze Star decoration or his client's expression of remorse. But he knew that if he took this opportunity, he would give the lead prosecutor, who all agreed was very persuasive, the
erred in admitting evidence that the defendant committed crimes after the murder because that evidence was not relevant to any aggravating factors or mitigating factors raised by the defense. Id., at 767-768. In this case, at a minimum, any evidence about respondent's prior robbery convictions would have been relevant because the State relied on those convictions to prove an aggravating circumstance.
701
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