Thaddaeus Louis Turner v. Arthur Calderon, Warden, San Quentin State Prison Jeanne Woodford, Warden, as Warden of San Quentin State Prison
Opinion
Opinion
Wardlaw, J.
In this capital case, Thaddaeus Louis Turner appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus. Seventeen years ago, Turner was convicted by a jury of first degree murder and robbery, and the special circumstance of robbery-murder was found to be true. He was sentenced to death on December 21, 1984. The California Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and sentence on April 26, 1990. Turner raises 21 claims in this habeas appeal, challenging both the guilt and penalty phases of his Merced County Superior Court trial.
There is no question that Turner killed his victim — he admitted as much — or that the circumstances reveal the seamy underside of life and death in a central California farming community. Nevertheless, there is a serious question as to whether Turner would be on death row today had his counsel, who told the court he was unprepared to proceed with the penalty phase, adequately investigated and presented the available mitigating evidence. This is a question we cannot answer on this undeveloped record, however, because the district court erroneously denied Turner an evidentiary hearing on this point.