Failure to Present Mental Health History at Federal Capital Sentencing

Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law

article

Bailey Fay¹  Edward A. Jouney¹  Matthew W. Grover¹ 

[1] Department of Psychiatry University of Michigan Ann Arbor

关键词: capital punishment;    Sixth Amendment;    mitigating factors;    mental health history;    abuse history;   

DOI  :  10.29158/JAAPL.210126L2-21

学科分类：儿科学

来源: American Academy of Psychiatry The Law

【 摘 要 】

capital punishmentSixth Amendmentmitigating factorsmental health historyabuse historyDefense Attorney's Failure to Present a Defendant's Mental Health History May Lead to Prejudice at Federal Capital SentencingIn United States v. Barrett, 985 F.3d 1203 (10th Cir. 2021), the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals considered whether the district court erred in denying relief to a defendant where it found the defense counsel's performance was deficient but without prejudice. The defendant, Kenneth Barrett, was sentenced to death for intentionally killing a state police officer. On appeal, Mr. Barrett asserted ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing in violation of the Sixth Amendment, arguing that counsel's omission of evidence regarding his mental impairments and abusive upbringing was deficient performance and resulted in prejudice. The Tenth Circuit reversed the district court's ruling and found prejudice, vacated Mr. Barrett's capital punishment sentence, and remanded for resentencing.

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