DISCLAIMER:  Any unofficial case summaries below are prepared by the clerk's office
                        as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.

192763P.pdf   07/26/2021  Leonard Taylor  v.  Troy Steele
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  19-2763
   U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis   
   [PUBLISHED] [Smith, Author, with Loken and Melloy, Circuit Judges] 
   Prisoner case - Habeas. Taylor, though advised otherwise, insisted that 
   his trial counsel forego closing argument in the penalty phase of his 
   capital-murder trial; Taylor's informed, voluntary decision prevented his 
   attorney's reluctant compliance with Taylor's wishes from subsequently 
   becoming ineffective assistance of counsel; the nature of the decision to 
   forego oral argument, whether fundamental or one of trial strategy, does 
   not alter this result; Taylor's ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim is 
   procedurally defaulted and therefore barred.