Case Name: Lopez v. Schriro (Click here for the full text of the case)

Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit

Date: June 20, 2007

Expert: Medical. Dr. Hobeich, M.D., pediatrician with expertise in child abuse

Issues: Whether the state trial court denied appellant his rights under the Eighth Amendment by failing to consider mitigation evidence presented at trial. Appellant also sought review of his death sentence and three ineffective assistance of counsel claims.

Summary of case: Appellant was convicted in Arizona state court of child abuse and felony murder of his one-year-old son and sentenced to death.

Role of the expert: Dr. Hobeich, who served as the State’s aggravation witness, testified about the pain before death that appellant’s son likely experienced from his injuries, which he compared to "surgery without anaesthesia." He also described symptoms of a child with such injuries, including being "hot to the touch" and "lethargic" and lacking the power or energy for a full cry, making more of a "cat cry" instead to communicate pain before eventually losing consciousness. Dr. Hobeich testified that appellant's son was probably conscious and in pain for at least an hour, and that there was at least a possibility he could have survived his injuries if he had received treatment sooner.

Challenges to the Expert's testimony: Appellant claimed that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to rebut the testimony of Dr. Hobeich. The appellate court held that the district court erred by determining that appellant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim for failure to investigate and present mitigating evidence was unexhausted. However, the appellate court also held that the district court was not objectively unreasonable in determining that the sentencing court had considered all of appellant's proferred mitigating evidence, including the evidence presented at trial.

Summary prepared by W. McLennan, Student, U.C. Hastings College of the Law