Cite as: 537 U. S. 19 (2002)
Per Curiam
Strickland incorrectly. See Bell v. Cone, 535 U. S. 685, 698- 699 (2002); Williams, supra, at 411. Rather, it is the habeas applicant's burden to show that the state court applied Strickland to the facts of his case in an objectively unreasonable manner. An "unreasonable application of federal law is different from an incorrect application of federal law." Williams, supra, at 410; see Bell, supra, at 694. The Ninth Circuit did not observe this distinction, but ultimately substituted its own judgment for that of the state court, in contravention of 28 U. S. C. § 2254(d).
The Ninth Circuit based its conclusion of "objective unreasonableness" upon its perception (1) that the California Supreme Court failed to "take into account" the totality of the available mitigating evidence, and "to consider" the prejudicial impact of certain of counsel's actions, and (2) that the "aggravating factors were not overwhelming." 288 F. 3d, at 1118. There is no support for the first of these contentions. All of the mitigating evidence, and all of counsel's prejudicial actions, that the Ninth Circuit specifically referred to as having been left out of account or consideration were in fact described in the California Supreme Court's lengthy and careful opinion. The Court of Appeals asserted that the California Supreme Court "completely ignored the mitigating effect of Visciotti's brain damage," and failed to consider the prejudicial effect of counsel's "multiple concessions during closing argument." Ibid. However, the California Supreme Court specifically considered the fact that an expert "had testified at the guilt phase that [Visciotti] had a minimal brain injury of a type associated with impulse disorder and learning disorder." In re Visciotti, 14 Cal. 4th, at 354, 926 P. 2d, at 1004. And it noted that under the trial court's instructions, this and other evidence that had been introduced "might have been considered mitigating at the penalty phase," despite trial counsel's concessions during closing argument. Ibid.
25
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007