Waldrop v. Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections

In 1998, Bobby Waldrop stabbed his grandparents to death. An Alabama jury convicted him of three counts of capital murder, and the trial court sentenced him to death over the jury’s recommendation of life imprisonment. Mr. Waldrop’s direct state appeals and state postconviction collateral challenges proved unsuccessful. This is Mr. Waldrop’s appeal from the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254.

We address three issues: whether Mr. Waldrop was denied effective assistance of counsel at sentencing; whether the trial court took Mr. Waldrop’s…