Dunn v. Reeves
U.S. Supreme Court · decided July 2, 2021 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- July 2, 2021
- Term
- October Term 2020
- Vote
- 6–3
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Cite as: 594 U. S. ____ (2021) 1 Per Curiam SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES JEFFERSON S. DUNN, COMMISSIONER, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS v. MATTHEW REEVES ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT No. 20–1084. Decided July 2, 2021 PER CURIAM. Willie Johnson towed Matthew Reeves’ broken-down car back to the city after finding Reeves stranded on an Ala- bama dirt road. In payment for this act of kindness, Reeves murdered Johnson, stole his money, and mocked his dying spasms. Years after being convicted of murder and sen- tenced to death, Reeves sought state postconviction relief, arguing that his trial counsel should have hired an expert to develop sentencing-phase mitigation evidence of intellec- tual disability. But despite having the burden to rebut the strong presumption that his attorneys made a legitimate strategic choice, Reeves did not call any of them to testify. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals denied relief, stressing that lack of evidence about counsel’s decisions im- peded Reeves’ efforts to prove that they acted unreasonably. Reeves v. State, 226 So. 3d 711 , 750–751 (2016). On federal habeas review, the Eleventh Circuit held that this analysis was not only wrong, but indefensible. In an unpublished, per curiam opinion that drew heavily on a dis- sent from denial of certiorari, the Eleventh…
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