Whether the Sixth Amendment requires reversal of a capital conviction where trial counsel provided constitutionally ineffective assistance by failing to conduct an adequate mitigation investigation at the penalty phase

No question identified. : To the Honorable Samuel Alito, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit: Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2101(c) and Supreme Court Rules 13.5, 22, and 30.2, applicant Leslie Galloway III respectfully requests a sixty(60-) day extension of time, up to and including May 6, 2024, within which to file a petition for a writ of certiorari to review the judgment of the Mississippi Supreme Court. Applicant has not previously sought an extension of time in this matter. Mr. Galloway seeks this extension primarily because of ACLU Legal Director David Cole’s obligations preparing briefing and oral argument before this Court in National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo, No. 22-842, which will prevent or substantially impair his work on Mr. Galloway’s case. In support of this request, Mr. Galloway submits the following: 1. The Mississippi Supreme Court denied Mr. Galloway’s motion for stay of the mandate and petition for rehearing on December 7, 2023. See Exhibit 1. Without an extension, the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari in this Court will expire on March 7, 2024. See S. Ct. R. 13.1, 13.38, 30.1. This application is being timely filed, in compliance with Rule 13.5, more than 10 days before that date. A copy of the Mississippi Supreme Court’s opinion is attached. See Exhibit 2. This Court will have jurisdiction over Mr. Galloway’s future petition for writ of certiorari pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1257. The Mississippi Supreme Court had jurisdiction pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. §§ 99-39-7, 27. 2. Mr. Galloway was indicted on June 8, 2009, and charged with capital murder for the December 6, 2008, homicide of Shakeylia Anderson, with an alleged sexual battery as the underlying felony. Following a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Harrison County before Judge Roger Clark, Mr. Galloway was convicted on September 23, 2010. He was sentenced to death the very next day, on September 24, 2010. Harrison County Public Defender Glenn Rishel and Assistant Public Defenders Charlie Stewart and Dana Christensen represented Mr. Galloway at trial. 3. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Mr. Galloway’s conviction and death sentence on June 6, 2013, and denied rehearing on September 26, 2013. Galloway v. State, 122 So. 3d 614 (Miss. 2013). This Court denied Mr. Galloway’s petition for a writ of certiorari on May 27, 2014. 4, On October 3, 2014, Mr. Galloway filed in the Mississippi Supreme Court a Motion for Leave to Proceed in the Trial Court with a Petition for PostConviction Relief. This motion invoked Mississippi’s two-tiered post-conviction process, which requires, in relevant part, an order and remand from the Supreme Court before the Circuit Court can hold an evidentiary hearing. 5. While that motion was pending, on May 1, 2015, Mr. Galloway filed in the Circuit Court of Jackson County a Motion to Vacate Carjacking Conviction and Sentence pursuant to Mississippi Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act. He sought to obtain relief from a 2007 carjacking conviction used as an aggravating factor in his capital murder trial. On October 22, 2015, the Mississippi Supreme Court issued an Order granting a stay of postconviction proceedings in this capital case pending the outcome of the carjacking post-conviction challenge. 6. On September 5, 2018, the Jackson County Circuit Court issued an Order denying Mr. Galloway’s motion for post-conviction relief on the carjacking conviction. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed that order on May 7, 2020. Mr. Galloway then filed a habeas petition in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi requesting relief in the carjacking case. Galloway v. Cain, 1:20-cv-271-HSO-RPM (Aug. 20, 2020). On July 26, 2021, the Magistrate Judge assigned to the habeas case issued a report and recommendation for dismissal of the petition as untimely filed, also noting that the