Moormann

Robert Henry Moormann was convicted in Arizona and sentenced to death in 1985 for the brutal murder of his adoptive mother. The murder occurred in a Florence, Arizona motel room while Moormann was on furlough from the Arizona State Prison. This case has a protracted history in both the Arizona state courts and in the federal courts. In 2005, we decided the first appeal from the district court’s denial of habeas relief. See Moormann v. Schriro (Moormann II), 426 F.3d 1044 (9th Cir.2005). We affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the vast majority of Moormann’s claims, but remanded for consideration of whether the failure of Moormann’s counsel to raise certain claims in Moormann’s direct appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court constituted sufficient cause and prejudice to excuse Moormann’s procedural default of those claims. Id. at 1060 .

On remand, the district court again denied Moormann’s habeas petition. The court then certified three issues for appeal, all relating to whether Moormann’s counsel in his direct appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court rendered ineffective assistance by failing to raise claims alleging ineffective assistance of trial counsel in (1) failing to…