Goad v. State
- Decided
- December 2, 1996
- Docket
- 01S01-9509-CR-00169
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Tennessee
Cited 2,686 timesNo negative treatment found in this library
What later courts said
- concluding that “failure to prove either deficiency or prejudice provides a sufficient basis to deny relief on the ineffective assistance claim” — Donte R. Swanier v. State of Tennessee (2024)
- concluding that a court need not address both the deficiency and prejudice components if the Petitioner fails to establish one of the two components — Johnny Tate v. State of Tennessee (2013)
- holding that a court need not address both prongs of the Strickland test if the petitioner fails to make an adequate showing on one — Roy Smith v. State of Tennessee (2018)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
OPINION ANDERSON, Justice.
The primary issue in this appeal is whether the petitioner, William Wesley Goad, was afforded his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel at the sentencing phase of his capital trial.
The Tennessee death penalty statute, Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-2-203, requires at the sentencing phase of a capital trial that the jury weigh statutory aggravating circumstances against statutory and other mitigating circumstances. If the mitigating circumstances do not outweigh the aggravating circumstances [1] , the jury must return the death penalty. [*365] In this case, the State relied on and proved one aggravating circumstance, Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-2-203(i)(2)(1982), conviction of one or more felonies involving violence or the threat of violence. The defense mitigation theory at sentencing was that Goad’s experience in Vietnam had drastically changed him from a model citizen to a violent, mentally ill criminal. The only proof, however, that was introduced to support this marked change was that of Goad’s parents and two high school friends. The record establishes that trial counsel failed to produce an available expert witness to introduce proof that Goad had been diagnosed with a mental illness— post-traumatic stress disorder — arising out of his harrowing Vietnam military service experience and his wife’s infidelity while he served there.
Cite this
Goad v. State, 938 S.W.2d 363 (1996)Read the full opinion
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