122888P.pdf   08/22/2014  Earl Forrest  v.  Troy Steele
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  12-2888
   U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City   
   [PUBLISHED] [Riley, Author, with Loken and Bye, Circuit Judges] 
   Prisoner case - Death Penalty Habeas.Claims of ineffective assistance of 
   counsel during the penalty phase rejected; state court decision that 
   defense counsel's decision to forego a PET scan was a fully-informed 
   strategic decision within Strickland's wide range of reasonable 
   professional judgment was reasonable, as was the state court's ruling that 
   counsel's decision not to introduce certain medical records was a 
   fully-informed strategic decision and a constitutionally sufficient 
   performance; counsel's determination not to hire a clinical psychologist 
   to testify during the penalty phase was a reasonable strategic decision as 
   the witness would have been open to questioning concerning Forrest's 
   participation in a California homicide; counsel's decision not to call 
   certain lay witnesses was reasonable as the evidence they would have 
   offered was cumulative of the 17 other witnesses who did testify regarding 
   Forrest's substance abuse, childhood and personal qualities; Supreme Court 
   precedents, including Strickland, did not require the Missouri Supreme 
   Court to "bundle" Forrest's claims and determine whether the alleged 
   failures, en masse, overcame Strickland's presumption of reasonableness, 
   and the Court reasonably applied Strickland by analyzing each claim 
   individually. Judge Bye, dissenting.