Opinion ID: 774531
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Cause and Prejudice/Exhaustion

Text: 121 As he has done with his other claims, Lott argues that his Brady claim may be unexhausted, but not procedurally barred, and if we do find a procedural bar, then he can demonstrate cause and prejudice to excuse that bar. Both arguments are without merit. Turning first to the cause and prejudice inquiry, we find that Lott cannot meet his burden. First, as the district court noted, Lott's counsel might reasonably have made a strategic decision not to raise this claim, particularly in light of the fact that the description provided by McGrath was not so materially different from Lott's actual appearance as to have affected the outcome of the trial. Second, the district court also observed that even if Lott's claim had been properly raised, it would have likely been rejected, both because McGrath's absence from trial made his prior description unnecessary for impeachment purposes, and because Lott's counsel successfully argued at trial that McGrath's statements were inadmissible hearsay. We agree and cannot conclude that the failure of Lott's counsel to assert this claim was an error of constitutional magnitude sufficient to establish cause for his default. 122 On the exhaustion question, as already discussed, where a habeas petitioner files a mixed petition containing both exhausted and unexhausted claims, a district court may deny the petition upon a finding that the petitioner has no available remedy in state court and to dismiss the petition would amount to nothing more than a futility. Such is the case here. Because Lott's claims are procedurally barred -- his attempt to argue the ineffectiveness of his counsel as cause for that bar is unavailing -- we are foreclosed from considering these claims, absent a showing that failure to do so would result in a manifest miscarriage of justice. 123