Sears v. Chatman

Issue: (1) Whether the Georgia Supreme Court, on return from remand following this Court’s decision in Sears v. Upton, violated both this Court’s mandate and petitioner’s Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by (A) revisiting the first prong of Strickland v. Washington, deficient performance by counsel, and (B) finding that trial counsel’s performance was constitutionally adequate; and (2) whether the Georgia Supreme Court violated both this Court’s mandate and petitioner’s Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by failing to properly weigh the evidence that petitioner was prejudiced by his trial counsel’s performance in satisfaction of the second prong of Strickland v. Washington.