Opinion ID: 2321960
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Denial of Postconviction Relief and Opinion on Remand

Text: On April 8, 2010, the Superior Court judge denied postconviction relief. Eight days later, Norcross appealed to this Court. After extensive briefing, we held en banc oral argument on January 26, 2011, and we remanded this case to Superior Court for two reasons. First, we requested that the trial judge examine Norcross' ineffective assistance of counsel claim in light of Williams v. Taylor, [11] Wiggins v. Smith , [12] Rompilla v. Beard, [13] Porter v. McCollum, [14] Sears v. Upton, [15] Jermyn v. Horn, [16] and Outten v. Kearney . [17] Second, we requested that the trial judge reweigh the totality of the mitigation evidence from both the penalty phase and the postconviction hearing to determine whether Norcross had shown prejudice under Strickland v. Washington . On May 11, 2011, the judge issued a perfunctory 7 page opinion on remand. We requested supplemental memorandums and held another oral argument on November 9, 2011.