Background
David Lee Sanders was sentenced to death for the murder and robbery of two men in 1987. His defense of insanity was rejected by the jury. Sanders challenged the constitutionality of AEDPA and claimed ineffective assistance of counsel.
The court’s reasoning
The court held that AEDPA is constitutional and that Sanders’s claims did not meet the standard for habeas relief. The jury instructions were not found to be confusing, and the ineffective assistance of counsel claims did not demonstrate prejudice.
We hold that AEDPA is constitutional and, applying it to Sanders’s claims, the Kentucky Supreme Court’s decisions on jury instructions and several of Sanders’s ineffective assistance of counsel claims were not contrary to law and did not involve an unreasonable application of federal law.
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The dissent
What it means going forward
The decision affirms the denial of Sanders’s habeas petition and upholds his death sentence.