Gray v. Branker’s Empirical Analysis
529 F.3d 220 · 2008
Citation profile
12 federal appellate · 1 district · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 36 later decisions — most recently March 2023 · most notably Winston v. Kelly (2010), Kervinton Valentino v. Harold Clarke (2020)
12 federal appellate · 1 district · 1 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 2244 (Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996) · 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996)
Relies on Strickland v. Washington · Miller-El v. Cockrell Director Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division · Williams v. Taylor · Cuyler v. Sullivan · Wiggins v. Smith, Warden
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 36 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The ABA Guidelines suggested that one avenue of investigation that counsel should consider is the condition of the defendant’s mental health. ABA Guidelines 11.8.3.F.2, 11.8.6.B. The Guidelines also advised that “[t]he assistance of one or more experts (e.g., social worker, psychologist, psychiatrist, investigator, etc.)” in the investigation, development, and presentation of relevant mitigating evidence “may be determinative as to [the] outcome” at sentencing. ABA Guideline 11.8.6 cmt.; see also id. 1.1 cmt., 5.1.1.A.V, 11.4.1. Counsel’s “strategic choices made after thorough investigation ... are virtually unchallengeable; and strategic choices made after less than complete investigation are reasonable precisely to the extent that reasonable professional judgments support the limitations on investigation.” In evaluating an ineffective assistance claim, a court “must judge the reasonableness of counsel’s challenged conduct on the facts of the particular case, viewed as of the time of counsel’s conduct.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“details.” 11 . To exacerbate this prejudice, the nature of the information not presented is exactly the type that jurors find persuasive. Evidence of a diminished mental capacity, along with evidence of a traumatic childhood is precisely the kind of evidence that reduces a defendant’s moral culpability and provokes sympathy from the jury. This Court has found that evidence of mental deficiencies “can be persuasive mitigating evidence for jurors considering the death penalty, and this evidence can determine the outcome.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Winston v. Kelly“(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or (2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.