Sterling Atkins v. Jeremy Bean

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

STERLING ATKINS, No. 20-99008

Petitioner-Appellant, D.C. No. 2:02-cv-01348- v. JCM-BNW

JEREMY BEAN, Warden; STATE OF

NEVADA ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OPINION

OFFICE,

Respondents-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada James C. Mahan, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted June 26, 2024 Seattle, Washington

Filed December 2, 2024

Before: Ronald M. Gould, Consuelo M. Callahan, and Jennifer Sung, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Callahan SUMMARY*

Habeas Corpus / Death Penalty

The panel affirmed the district court’s denial of Sterling Atkins’s habeas corpus petition challenging his Nevada conviction for murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and first-degree kidnapping; and his death sentence. On the first certified issue, the panel held that the Nevada Supreme Court reasonably denied Atkins’s claim that trial counsel was ineffective at the penalty phase for failing to investigate and present additional mitigating and social history evidence.…