Sonia Sotomayor

“ But it offers virtually no rationale for the premeditated, cold-blooded murder and attempted murder of two innocent victims who were complete strangers to Hodge. Many, if not most, malefactors committing terribly violent and cruel murders are the subjects of terrible childhoods. Even if the sentencing jury had this mitigation evidence before it, we do not believe, in light of the particularly depraved and brutal nature of these crimes, that it would have spared Hodge the death penalty. ”

“ The Kentucky Supreme Court's opinion is plainly contrary to these precedents. The evidence of Hodge's brutal upbringing need not have offered any "rationale" for the murder he committed in order for the jury to have considered it as weighty mitigation. It would be enough if there were a "reasonable probability" that, because of Hodge's tragic past, the jury's "reasoned moral response" would instead have been to spare his life and sentence him to life imprisonment instead. ”

“ More fundamentally, the Kentucky Supreme Court appears to believe that in cases involving "violent and cruel murders," it does not matter that the "malefacto [r] " had a "terrible childhoo [d] "; the jury would return a death sentence regardless. App. to Pet. for Cert. 11. That view is contrary to our cases applying Strickland's prejudice prong. In Rompilla, for example, we considered counsel's failure "to present significant mitigating evidence about Rompilla's childhood," which was as horrific as Hodge's, as well as his "mental capacity and health, and alcoholism." ”