Bell v. Cone

Bell v. Cone
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 25, 2002
Decided May 28, 2002
Full case nameRicky Bell, Warden v. Gary Bradford Cone
Docket no.01-400
Citations535 U.S. 685 (more)
122 S. Ct. 1843; 152 L. Ed. 2d 914
ArgumentOral argument
Case history
PriorCone v. Bell, 956 F. Supp. 1401 (W.D. Tenn. 1997); affirmed in part, reversed in part, 243 F.3d 961 (6th Cir. 2001); cert. granted, 534 U.S. 1064 (2001).
SubsequentCone v. Bell, 359 F.3d 785 (6th Cir. 2004), reversed and remanded by Bell v. Cone, 543 U.S. 447 (2005) (per curiam); Cone v. Bell, 492 F.3d 743 (6th Cir. 2007), vacated by Cone v. Bell, 556 U.S. 449, 463 (2009).
Holding
Tennessee state courts did not unreasonably apply clearly established law when determining whether the defendant in this case was denied effective assistance of counsel
Court membership
Chief Justice
William Rehnquist
Associate Justices
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
David Souter · Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
MajorityRehnquist, joined by O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer
DissentStevens
Laws applied
Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)

Bell v. Cone, 535 U.S. 685 (2002), was a Supreme Court of the United States case that upheld a death sentence despite the defendant's argument that he should not be sentenced to death because he was suffering from drug-induced psychosis when he committed the crimes.[1] Cone also argued that he was denied effective assistance of counsel because his attorney failed to present sufficient mitigating evidence during the sentencing phase of his trial and that his attorney inappropriately waived his final argument during the sentencing phase.[2] In an 8–1 opinion written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the United States Supreme Court denied Cone's petition for a writ of habeas corpus.[3] The Court held that the actions taken by Cone's attorney during the sentencing phase were "tactical decisions" and that the state courts that denied Cone's appeals did not unreasonably apply clearly established law.[4] Justice John Paul Stevens wrote a dissenting opinion in which he argued that Cone was denied effective assistance of counsel because his attorney failed to "subject the prosecution's case to meaningful adversarial testing."[5]

Commentators have noted that Bell v. Cone is significant because it clarified the standards that should be used when determining ineffective assistance of counsel claims.[6] Other commentators have suggested that the Court's ruling has made it more difficult for state prisoners to receive habeas relief in federal court.[7] After several additional appeals, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Cone v. Bell (2009) that Cone should receive a new hearing in federal trial court to determine whether the prosecution's failure to disclose evidence violated Cone's rights to due process under Brady v. Maryland.[8] In 2016, Gary Cone died from natural causes while still sitting on Tennessee's death row.[9]

  1. ^ Bell v. Cone, 535 U.S. 685, 689-90, 702 (2002); id. at 705 (Stevens, J., dissenting).
  2. ^ Bell, 535 U.S. at 690–92; id. at 705–07 (Stevens, J., dissenting).
  3. ^ Bell, 535 U.S. at 702 (reversing a prior ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and remanding for further proceedings).
  4. ^ Bell, 535 U.S. at 699–702.
  5. ^ Bell, 535 U.S. at 702, 718–19 (Stevens, J., dissenting) (citing United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 659 (1984)) (internal quotation marks omitted).
  6. ^ See, e.g., Justin Rand, Pro Se Paternalism: The Contractual, Practical, and Behavioral Cases for Automatic Reversal, 163 U. Penn. L. Rev. 283, 292–93 (2014); Jennifer Williams, Criminal Law—The Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel—The Supreme Court Minimizes the Right to Effective Assistance of Counsel by Maximizing the Deference Awarded to Barely Competent Defense Attorneys. Florida v. Nixon, 125 S. Ct. 551 (2004)., 28 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 149, 170 (2005).
  7. ^ See, e.g., Stuart E. Walker, "What We Meant Was . . ." The Supreme Court Clarifies Two Ineffective Assistance Cases in Bell v. Cone, 54 Mercer L. Rev. 1271, 1288 (2003); Wayne M. Helge, Know Your Client: The Mundane Case of Wiggins v. Smith, 10 Roger Williams U. L. Rev. 581, 594 (2005).
  8. ^ Cone v. Bell, 556 U.S. 449 (2009).
  9. ^ Stuart Ervin, Death row inmate Gary Cone dies WSMV (April 20, 2016).