Respondent Robert Douglas Smith was
convicted in 1982 of first-degree murder,
kidnaping, and sexual assault. He was sentenced
to death on the murder count, and
consecuStive158 21–year prison terms for the
other counts. After a series of unsuccessful
petitions for state postconviction relief, respondent
filed a federal petition for a writ
of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254
(1994 ed. and Supp. V) in the United
States District Court for the District of
Arizona. The petition alleged that his trial
and appellate counsel were ineffective for
failing to challenge various trial errors.
Respondent had previously brought these
ineffective-assistance claims in 1995 in a
petition for state postconviction relief pursuant
to Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure
32 (West 2000). The Pima County
Superior Court denied his claims, finding
them waived under Arizona Rule 32.2(a)(3)
because respondent failed to raise them in
his previous two Rule 32 petitions. In doing
so, it rejected as ‘‘outrageous’’ respondent’s
argument that his failure to raise
these claims was also due to ineffective
assistance-in particular, that his prior appellate
and Rule 32 counsel, who are members
of the Arizona Public Defender’s office,
refused to file ineffective-assistanceof-
counsel claims because his trial counsel