a retired corrections officer from Soledad Correctional Training Facility, testified that Samayoa worked on his prison crew six hours a day for approximately a year. Smith rated Samayoa's job perfor- mance as "very satisfactory." 4418 SAMAYOA v. AYERS Samayoa's mother, Mercedes, and two sisters, Inez and Deana, testified. Their testimony was designed to humanize Samayoa and elicit sympathy and mercy for him and his fam- ily. They testified that Samayoa was an artist who loved his family. Mercedes identified drawings and hand-made cards Samayoa had made and sent to her and family photographs, including pictures of Samayoa as a child. Mercedes also iden- tified photos the family sent to Samayoa while he was in prison. Similarly, Deana identified a card Samayoa had sent to her. Deana also testified that Samayoa had a seven-year-old son, and Samayoa and his son loved each other very much. Inez and Deana testified that they had cooperated with the police but loved Samayoa and hoped his life would be spared.
The jury deliberated for 80 minutes before returning a death penalty verdict.
Samayoa filed a post-verdict motion to reduce his sentence to a life sentence. The trial court independently reweighed aggravating and mitigating evidence and denied the motion, concluding that the death penalty was "the only fitting response" to the "unspeakable crimes" and that aggravation "vastly outweigh[ed]" mitigation. Id. at 44-46. As aggrava- tion, the trial court cited the "overwhelming" evidence of the special circumstances, the "viciousness and brutality of the crimes," the fact that Samayoa "bludgeoned" the victims "to death in the course of . . . a burglary," and the "prior violence against highly vulnerable female victims." Id. at 45.
C. State Appellate and Post Conviction Proceedings
The California Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the convictions and sentence on direct review. Id. at 49. The Supreme Court reviewed the motion to reduce sentence and held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it reweighed the aggravating and mitigating factors and con- cluded that the "aggravating circumstances 'vastly outweigh the mitigating circumstances.' " Id. at 46. SAMAYOA v. AYERS 4419 Samayoa filed his first state habeas petition with the Cali- fornia Supreme Court in 1997, arguing that counsel was inef- fective for failing to investigate and present mitigation evidence. On February 23, 1998, while the state habeas peti- tion was pending, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on Samayoa's direct appeal. Samayoa v. California, 522 U.S. 1125 (1998). On September 27, 2000, the California Supreme Court denied the ineffective assistance habeas claim "on the merits," without explanation.
D. Federal Habeas Petition
Samayoa filed his first federal habeas petition on January 28, 2002, and amended it in 2005, claiming that counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate and present mitigation evidence at the penalty phase. He filed numerous supporting affidavits providing additional social history. Several family members stated that Samayoa had grown up witnessing vio- lent fights among extended family members, using drugs, and drinking alcohol. One uncle admitted that he and