Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 453.0

292 

WOOD  v.  ALLEN 

Syllabus 

not  mere  oversight  or  neglect  but  the  result  of  a  deliberate  decision  to 
focus  on  other  defenses.  Most  of  the  contrary  evidence  Wood  high­
lights—e. g.,  that  Dozier  and  Ralph  put  the  inexperienced  Trotter  in 
charge of the penalty phase proceedings—speaks not to whether counsel 
made  a  strategic  decision,  but  to  whether  counsel’s  judgment  was  rea­
sonable,  a  question  not  before  this  Court.  Any  evidence  plausibly  in­
consistent  with  the  strategic-decision  ﬁnding  does  not  sufﬁce  to  show 
that the ﬁnding was unreasonable.  Pp. 300–303. 

2.  Because  Wood’s  argument  that  the  state  court  unreasonably  ap­
plied Strickland in rejecting his ineffective-assistance claim on the mer­
its is not “fairly included” in the questions presented under this Court’s 
Rule 14.1(a), it will not be addressed here.  Pp. 303–304. 

542 F. 3d 1281, afﬁrmed. 

Sotomayor,  J.,  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  Court,  in  which  Roberts, 
C.  J.,  and  Scalia,  Thomas,  Ginsburg,  Breyer,  and  Alito,  JJ.,  joined. 
Stevens,  J.,  ﬁled  a  dissenting  opinion,  in  which  Kennedy,  J.,  joined, 
post, p. 305. 

Kerry  Alan  Scanlon  argued  the  cause  for  petitioner. 
With  him  on  the  briefs  were  David  O.  Bickart,  Robert  M. 
Grass,  Karen  R.  Robinson,  Dionne  A.  Fraser,  and  Brady 
W.  Mills. 

Corey  L.  Maze,  Solicitor  General  of  Alabama,  argued  the 
cause  for  respondents.  With  him  on  the  brief  were  Troy 
King,  Attorney  General,  and  Henry  M.  Johnson,  Assistant 
Attorney General.* 

*Briefs  of  amici  curiae  urging  reversal  were  ﬁled  for  the  American 
Civil Liberties Union et al. by  Larry W. Yackle, Steven R. Shapiro, John 
Holdridge, and Brian W. Stull; and for the National Association of Crimi­
nal  Defense  Lawyers  by  Jonathan  L.  Marcus  and  Barbara  E.  Bergman. 
Briefs  of  amici  curiae  urging  afﬁrmance  were  ﬁled  for  the  State  of 
Indiana et al. by Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Thomas 
M.  Fisher,  Solicitor  General,  and  Stephen  R.  Creason,  Section  Chief,  by 
Richard S. Gebelein, Chief Deputy Attorney General of Delaware, and by 
the Attorneys General for their respective States as follows: John W. Suth­
ers of Colorado, Bill McCollum of Florida, Thurbert E. Baker of Georgia, 
Tom Miller of  Iowa,  Steve  Six  of  Kansas,  James  D.  “Buddy”  Caldwell  of 
Louisiana,  Martha  Coakley  of  Massachusetts,  Jim  Hood  of  Mississippi, 
Steve Bullock of Montana, Gary K. King of New Mexico, Richard Cordray 
of  Ohio,  Henry  D.  McMaster  of  South  Carolina,  Robert  E.  Cooper,  Jr.,  of