“ In some cases, they have suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder so severe as to induce violent criminality, a fact recognized by Congress when it passed the Veterans Health Care Amendments of 1979, 38 U.S.C. § 612 et seq. 863 F.2d, at 1396-1397. The attorney failed, too, to explore this potential source of mitigating evidence, deciding after a sketchy telephone conversation with petitioner's stepmother and after a brief conversation with his brother not to interview the family. ”

“ It is questionable, to say the least, whether under these facts counsel's performance was indeed reasonable so as to satisfy the first prong of the two-pronged test for ineffective assistance set forth in Strickland. ”