Opinion ID: 1058990
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: upon a petition for writ of habeas corpus. upon a rehearing.

Text: In a petition for writ of habeas corpus, the petitioner, Christopher Scott Emmett, claimed, among other things, that he was denied effective assistance of counsel in his capital murder trial because his trial counsel failed to object to a penalty phase verdict form. [1] Relying on this Court's decision in Atkins v. Commonwealth, 257 Va. 160, 510 S.E.2d 445 (1999), Emmett asserted that the verdict form was incomplete because it did not include an option requiring a sentence of life imprisonment upon a finding that the Commonwealth had proven neither the future dangerousness nor the vileness aggravating factor. Applying the two-part test set forth in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), we concluded, in an order dated June 4, 2004, that trial counsel's performance was deficient by failing to object to an incomplete verdict form but that Emmett suffered no prejudice because the jury found that the Commonwealth had proven both aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt. [2] Thus, the jury would not have had any occasion to consider imposing the mandatory sentence of life when neither aggravating factor was established. We subsequently granted a petition to rehear filed by the respondent, Warden of the Sussex I State Prison (Warden), on the question whether trial counsel's performance was deficient. [3] At issue in Emmett's habeas petition and in this rehearing is the following penalty phase verdict form provided to the jury: