Brown v. Finnan

Before CUDAHY, POSNER, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Having been convicted of murdering Charles Young, Jr. and Robert Hunter in 2000, Terry C. Brown was ultimately sentenced to serve two consecutive terms of 55 years. Brown subsequently filed a petition for post-conviction relief, claiming that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel at both the trial and appellate levels. His petition focused on an in-court announcement by one victim’s mother to the effect that “the situation [was] racist” and her further proclamation on the courthouse steps that the courthouse should be treated similarly to the World Trade Center and bombed. Brown’s attorney declined to request a hearing to determine the impact of these statements on the jury. Nor did his appellate counsel raise the issue on appeal. Brown now contends that his counsels’ failure to address this issue violated the Sixth Amendment. He argues further that the Indiana courts’ denial of his petition for post-conviction relief is contrary to well-established principles of federal law, as established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). He therefore asserts that this Court should grant his petition for a writ of habeas corpus.