Opinion ID: 612544
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Direct Appeal and Postconviction Proceedings

Text: Foust appealed directly to the Ohio Supreme Court, which reweighed the aggravating circumstances and mitigating factors. Finding that Foust offered no significant mitigating evidence, the court affirmed the imposition of the death penalty. State v. Foust, 105 Ohio St.3d 137, 823 N.E.2d 836, 871 (2004). Foust filed a petition for postconviction relief that raised, among other claims, ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase. The petition for postconviction relief is the first time that the Ohio courts heard a complete account of Foust's childhood. The state trial court denied the petition for relief. The court found that the new evidence paints a truly grisly picture of the Foust home; however, it is a picture already painted vividly by the testimony that was received at trial. App'x Vol. 5 at 1710-11 (Postconviction Op.). The trial record was replete with evidence... as to Kelly Foust's history of abuse and neglect, showing that Foust grew up in a `family that can only be described as dysfunctional and marked by an alcoholic father.' Id. at 1709; see also id. at 1711. Given the testimony at the mitigation hearing, the decision not to call additional witnesses evidently was a tactical one, in order to avoid cumulative testimony. Id. at 1709. The court also found that Foust was not prejudiced because [i]t was rather the inhuman and gratuitous brutality of petitioner's conduct  not any lack of evidence as to his psyche  that was overwhelming in compelling all three judges to reach the decision they reached both independently and unanimously. Id. at 1711. The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed, State v. Foust, No. 83771, 2005 WL 2462048 (Ohio Ct.App. Oct. 6, 2005), the Ohio Supreme Court denied review, State v. Foust, No. 2005-2260, 108 Ohio St.3d 1509, 844 N.E.2d 855 (2006), and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari, Foust v. Ohio, 549 U.S. 874, 127 S.Ct. 184, 166 L.Ed.2d 129 (2006). On March 22, 2007, Foust filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio that raised ten claims. The district court denied the petition in its entirety and denied a certificate of appealability. We granted a certificate of appealability on one issue: Whether counsel rendered ineffective assistance in the penalty phase by not obtaining a trained mitigation specialist, not obtaining the records needed to present Foust's life history, not interviewing mitigation witnesses, not interviewing Dr. Karpawich in a timely manner, and not obtaining a substance-abuse expert. 6th Cir. 9/21/09 Order.