Opinion ID: 3066031
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Federal Petition

Text: Poyson’s federal petition presented a substantially different claim – counsel’s failure to investigate Poyson’s possible fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Poyson alleged that trial counsel were ineffective because they “failed to make any effort to investigate and develop” evidence that Poyson suffered from FASD. He alleged that defense counsel “failed to investigate the obvious possibility that [he] suffered from FASD,” made “no effort” to “pursue this fertile area of mitigation” and “ignored obvious evidence that [he] was exposed to drugs and alcohol in utero.” Poyson further 34 POYSON V . RYAN alleged that he was prejudiced by counsel’s deficient performance: Their failure to adequately investigate and substantiate [evidence that Petitioner was exposed to drugs and alcohol in utero] profoundly prejudiced Petitioner. Adequate explanation during the pre-sentence hearing of the effect of FASD on Petitioner’s brain would likely have convinced the trial court that Petitioner had a lesser degree of culpability.