Wilburn Dobbs v. Walter D. Zant, Warden (506 U.S. 357)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 19, 1993 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 506 U.S. 357 · 113 S. Ct. 835
- Decided
- January 19, 1993
- Term
- October Term 1992
- Vote
- 7–2
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. The motion of petitioner for leave to proceed in forma pauperis and the petition for a writ of certiorari are granted. A Georgia jury found petitioner Wilburn Dobbs guilty of murder and sentenced him to death. In his first federal ha-beas petition, petitioner claimed, inter alia, that he received ineffective assistance from his court-appointed counsel at sentencing. The District Court rejected this claim after holding an evidentiary hearing. Because a transcript of the closing arguments made at sentencing was, by the State’s representation, unavailable, the District Court relied on the testimony of petitioner’s counsel regarding the content of his closing argument to find that counsel had rendered effective assistance. Civ. Action No. 80-247 (ND Ga., Jan. 13, 1984), p. 24. The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed, also relying on counsel’s testimony about his closing argument in mitigation. Dobbs v. Kemp, 790 F. 2d 1499, 1514, and n. 15 (1986). Subsequently, petitioner located a transcript of the penalty phase closing arguments, which flatly contradicted the account given by counsel in key respects. Petitioner moved the Court of Appeals, now reviewing related proceedings from the District Court, to supplement the record on appeal with the sentencing transcript. The court denied this motion without explanation. No. 90-8352 (CA11, Nov. 1,1990).…
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