Strickland v. Washington

Washington (defendant) confessed to a ten-day crime spree including multiple murders; against his experienced attorney's advice, he confessed to two more murders and pleaded guilty to all charges, then rejected his lawyer's advice to request an advisory jury for sentencing. His attorney, believing the case theory should center on Washington's extreme emotional distress from being unable to support his family, chose not to seek a continuance, present character witnesses, request a psychiatric evaluation, or seek a presentence report (which would have revealed Washington's other crimes), and did not cross-examine the state's medical experts. The sentencing judge found several aggravating factors and rejected the mitigating evidence presented, sentencing Washington to death on all three murder counts; after state courts upheld the sentence, Washington sought federal habeas relief citing six specific alleged failures by counsel, which the district court rejected but the court of appeals reversed.