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Table of Contents: Primary

United States Constitutional Law
United States Supreme
Court Case Summaries
October 20, 2003

United States constitutional Law
United States Supreme Court Case Summaries
October 20, 2003

U.S. Supreme Court Opinions
Case Summaries -October 20, 2003
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, HABEAS CORPUS, PER CURIAM
* YARBOROUGH v. GENTRY

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CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, HABEAS CORPUS, PER CURIAM

YARBOROUGH v. GENTRY, No. 02-1587 (U.S.S.C October 20, 2003)
Respondent Lionel Gentry was convicted in California state court of
assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing his girlfriend, Tanaysha Handy.
Gentry claimed he stabbed her accidentally during a dispute with a drug dealer.

The right to effective assistance extends to closing arguments. See Bell v. Cone,
535 U. S. 685, 701-702 (2002); Herring v. New York, 422 U. S. 853, 865 (1975).
Nonetheless, counsel has wide latitude in deciding how best to represent a client, and
deference to counsel's tactical decisions in his closing presentation is particularly
important because of the broad range of legitimate defense strategy at that stage.
Closing arguments should "sharpen and clarify the issues for resolution by the
trier of fact," id., at 862, but which issues to sharpen and how best to clarify them
are questions with many reasonable answers. Indeed, it might sometimes make sense
to forgo closing argument altogether. See Bell, supra, at 701-702. Judicial review
of a defense attorney's summation is therefore highly deferential--and doubly deferential
when it is conducted through the lens of federal habeas.

Trial counsel's closing argument did not deprive petitioner of his
right to effective assistance of counsel, as the strategic summation
made several key points in spite of confessing some of petitioner's
shortcomings.

To read the full text of this opinion, go to:
http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/021597.html

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CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, HABEAS CORPUS, PER CURIAMYARBOROUGH v. GENTRY, No. 02-1587 (U.S.S.C October 20, 2003)
U.S. Supreme Court