Opinion ID: 799074
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Failure to object to improper comments of the prosecutor during the penalty phase

Text: Stephens alleges trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to portions of the prosecutor's argument in which he discussed the State's victim impact evidence, described Stephens's actions as transforming the victim from a happy little boy into a corpse, appealed to the jury's sympathy, and showed the jury photos of the victim that had been admitted into evidence. As the Florida Supreme Court explained, [c]ounsel is not ineffective for making a tactical decision not to object to statements and photographs introduced during the State's closing arguments when those statements and photographs were not improper. Stephens II, 975 So.2d at 416-17. At the evidentiary hearing, counsel testified that he did not find anything objectionable about the prosecutor's comments, and that as a defense attorney you have to pick your fights carefully or risk alienating the jury. We therefore cannot find that the Florida Supreme Court's resolution of this claim was contrary to or an unreasonable application of clearly established federal.