Cite as: 535 U. S. 685 (2002)
Stevens, J., dissenting
respondent's prior convictions. Further, it is hard to imagine how evidence of Cone's post-Vietnam behavior would change their assessments—indeed, Dice's whole case was that Cone had changed.7
Dice also failed to present to the jury mitigation evidence that he did have on hand. He admitted that other witnesses—including those whose testimony he promised to the jury in the guilt phase opening, such as Cone's mother, sister, and aunts—had been interviewed and were available to testify at the penalty phase. Dice had ready access to other mitigation evidence as well: testimony from Cone himself (in which he could have, among other things, expressed remorse and discussed his brother's drowning and his fiancée's murder), the letter of forgiveness from the victim's sister, the Bronze Star, and the medical experts. Dice's post hoc reasons for not putting on these additional witnesses and evidence are puzzling, but appear to rest largely on his incorrect assumption that the guilt phase record already included "what little mitigating circumstances we had," State Post-conviction Tr. 133, and his fear of the prosecutor, "who by all accounts was an extremely effective advocate," ante, at 692; see, e. g., State Postconviction Tr. 105, 107-108, 123, 136, 137.
7 The Court's brief descriptions of Dice's reasoning for his choices, see ante, at 699-702, gives this reasoning more legitimacy than it merits. Only by reading Dice's lengthy answers from the postconviction hearing is it clear how confused and misguided Dice was. For example, with respect to the supposed damage that these mitigation witnesses could do, Dice speaks in generalities about unsubstantiated fears: "Picture this scenario. You've got them on the stand; once you've put on this trial for life, as we call it, you and I, and the burden is what now? It's only preponderance of the evidence. Comes now the skilled prosecutor, Mr. Strother, over there, and says, oh, he was a good student in high school; right? And Vietnam affected his mind; right? What about all the robberies he pulled? They have him in prison in Oklahoma. I mean, he was in prison once. Did you know about those things? And how about this and that, you know, and other things Mr. Cone told me about? " State Postconviction Tr. 104-105.
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