Full opinion text
MARCUS, Circuit Judge: Virgil Lee Brownlee appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging both his 1987 conviction for the murder of Lathen Aaron Dodd and the death sentence imposed as a result of that conviction by the Circuit Court for Jefferson County, Alabama. Although we agree with the district court that the underlying conviction was constitutionally firm, Brownlee plainly received ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing in light of his attorneys’ failure to investigate, obtain, or present to the jury any evidence in mitigation of the death penalty, violating the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution. Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s order regarding sen-terming and remand the case with instructions to issue a writ vacating Brownlee’s death sentence. I. The facts surrounding the death of Lathen Aaron Dodd are undisputed. At approximately 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. on.Monday, May 19, 1986, three gun-wielding men stormed into Jodie’s Lounge in North Birmingham, Alabama, yelling obscenities, firing their pistols, and ordering the bar’s fourteen to eighteen customers to get down onto the floor. One of the three perpetrators remained by the door of the bar keeping guard over a man whom he had dragged in with him. The other two perpetrators went further into the bar. There, any patrons who were not already lying down were forced to the ground. One patron suffered a broken shoulder from being thrown to the floor. After forcing all of the customers to the ground, the perpetrators continued to abuse them physically — patrons were hit on the head, kicked in the neck, hit with a gun, and pistol whipped. Once all of the customers were secured on the ground, two of the assailants robbed them of their possessions, including billfolds, money, jewelry, watches, identification cards, keys, credit cards, wallets, a duffel bag, a knife, and a gun. As the patrons were being robbed of their possessions, one of the perpetrators, who seemed to one witness to be in charge of the operation, demanded to know who the owner of the bar was. When Dodd identified himself, the robber ordered him to go to the cash register and give him its contents. After receiving the contents, this robber demanded to know where the rest of the money was. When he was told that there was no more money, the robber jumped on the bar and fired two shots, one of which sounded to one patron like it made a “body impact.” After they had been robbed, the patrons were forced to crawl to the restroom at the back of the bar. While they were on the way to the bathroom, more shots were fired, one of which grazed a customer’s head. The perpetrators then left the scene. When the patrons emerged from the restroom, they discovered that Dodd had been shot in the abdomen. Dodd was then taken to the hospital, where he died on an operating table at 10:53 p.m. The cause of death was bleeding that resulted from a gunshot wound to the chest and abdomen. A. Shortly after the crime, the State of Alabama charged Virgil Lee Brownlee, Willie Irving Goodgame, and Robert Harris with the capital offense of murder during the course of robbery in the first degree, a violation of Ala.Code § 13A-5-40(a)(2). Goodgame pled guilty and received a sentence of life imprisonment, and the State proceeded to trial first against Brownlee, and later against Harris. Initially, attorney Herbert Massie was appointed to represent Brownlee, but his representation ended when Massie was suspended from the practice of law for failing to comply with his continuing legal education requirements. In October 1986, Circuit Court Judge James H. Hard IV appointed attorneys Burton Dunn and James Kendrick to represent Brownlee. At the three-day trial, which lasted from January 5-7, 1987, the State’s witnesses included nine patrons of Jodie’s Lounge, who described the robbery. None of these individuals linked Brownlee to the crime. Although four of the patrons identified Goodgame as one of the perpetrators and one identified Harris, nobody who was in the bar could identify Brownlee as being present. One customer testified that he thought he had seen Brownlee somewhere before, but he was not positive and could not say that Brownlee was at Jodie’s Lounge. Notably, none of the patrons could say who shot and killed Dodd. In addition to the lack of any eyewitness testimony implicating Brownlee, the State presented no forensic evidence linking Brownlee to the crime in any way, and no bullet was recovered from Dodd’s body. The evidence implicating Brownlee consisted entirely of the testimony of co-defendant Goodgame and two uncharged individuals who claimed to be with Brownlee before and after (but not during) the crime: James “Sonny” Warren and Reavor Jones. Goodgame, who said that he had known Brownlee for about ten years at the time of the crime, testified that' on the night of May 19, 1986, he was at Jones’s apartment with Brownlee, Harris, Warren, Jones, and another man, Reginald Poe. According to Goodgame, Brownlee had sent Warren to pick up the other men and bring them back to Jones’s, where they all used drugs. At around 7:00 or 7:30 that evening, Goodgame, Brownlee, and Harris went into a separate room of the apartment, at which time Brownlee told them that he knew of a “lick,” meaning a place where they could get money. After discussing the plan, the three men equipped themselves with firearms, including a nickel-plated .357 Magnum with- a brown handle for Brownlee and a silver, sawed-off .38 caliber pistol for Goodgame. Brownlee asked Warren if they could take his car, a blue Buick, but Warren declined to loan them the vehicle and instead drove them to them destination. Goodgame testified that the men arrived in Warren’s car at an alley behind Jodie’s Lounge, but that Warren became nervous and drove them all back to Jones’s apartment, where they talked before returning to the alley behind the lounge. Fifteen minutes before the men entered the bar to commit the robbery, Goodgame went in to look -it over, at which time he bought two bags of potato chips. Once he returned outside and as the three men waited to enter the lounge, a man pulled up in a van. Goodgame testified that he, along with Brownlee and Harris, decided to take this man into the bar with them. After the man broke free from their initial grasp and tried to run away, Goodgame caught him. By this time, according to Goodgame’s testimony, Brownlee and Harris were already in the bar. Therefore, Goodgame brought the man to the door of the bar and threw him onto the floor inside. Goodgame testified that he remained at the door of the lounge throughout the course of-the robbery, which lasted about ten minutes. Although he said that he saw Brownlee in the -middle of the bar’s floor area, Goodgame acknowledged that he did not see anybody shoot Dodd. He said that when the robbery ended, the men left the bar, with Brownlee carrying a tote bag, and returned to the car, where Warren •was waiting. Upon -returning to Jones’s apartment, Brownlee, Goodgame, and Harris went into the bedroom and started dividing up the contents of Brownlee’s bag, including clothes, billfolds, rings, watches, and $500 to $600 in cash. Goodgame said that he received a necklace and some money, and that there was a .38 caliber firearm lying on the bed. According to Goodgame, the men then sent Jones to buy cocaine, and everyone in the apartment used cocaine, as well as “T’s and blues.” Goodgame testified that he was in the bedroom with Jones for some of this time, but that when he emerged he heard Poe saying “I didn’t know you all had shot nobody.” Goodgame asked, “who got shot?,” and Poe explained, “Harris just told Brownlee that he didn’t have to shoot,” to which, according to Goodgame, Brownlee responded “I had to shoot the mother fucker cause he went for his pistol.” Goodgame also testified that, on the following day, in a conversation with Warren, Jones, and Goodgame about a newspaper article, Brownlee made such statements as, “if I wouldn’t have shot him, he would have shot me.” Goodgame said that he and Brownlee went to the creek behind Jones’s apartment and threw in the billfolds, identification cards, and other items of no value. He also said that he went with Brownlee to sell the pistols to an individual named “Big Bull.” On cross-examination, Goodgame, who was identified by four patrons (Simon Hill, Jannie Surovec, B.A. Tidwell, and John Brown) as having been seen inside Jodie’s Lounge, insisted that he did not actually go into the bar, but rather stayed outside and pushed the captive man inside. He also said that Brownlee’s gun was black, after observing on direct examination that it was nickel-plated. Goodgame further testified on cross-examination that he told the police on the day of his arrest, June 5, 1986, that Brownlee had a .357, even though the police report indicated that Goodgame said Brownlee carried a short-barrel silver .38. Goodgame conceded that he was high on cocaine when he heard Brownlee admit to the shooting and that he had initially told the police that Brown-lee carried stolen goods in his pocket upon leaving the crime scene, although he said at trial that Brownlee had a tote bag. Some portions of Goodgame’s testimony were corroborated by Warren and Jones, but other material portions were contradicted. Warren testified that, around 3:30 or 4:00 p.m., he went to Jones’s apartment to get money that he was owed by Brown-lee, Harris, and Goodgame. At Brownlee’s request, he drove to pick up Goodgame, Poe, and Harris, arriving back at the apartment around 5:00 or 5:30. Warren said that, at approximately 8:30 or 9:00 p.m., Brownlee, Harris, and Goodgame left in his ear. Contrary to Goodgame’s testimony, Warren said that he stayed at the apartment. According to Warren, no drugs were consumed before the other men left. When they left, Brownlee carried a .357, Goodgame had a sawed-off .38, and Harris had a standard .38. Warren testified that the men returned approximately two hours later, with Good-game carrying a gym bag and Brownlee carrying a paper bag. Brownlee, Good-game, and Harris went into the bedroom, where they stayed for 45 minutes. When Warren went into the bedroom, he saw identification cards, jewelry, and money on the floor and bed. When the men came out of the room, he saw a gun that they did not have with them when they left. Brownlee and Harris initially argued about a necklace, but they resolved their dispute and everyone began using cocaine and T’s and blues. Warren first claimed that he used only marijuana, but admitted later in his testimony that he also used cocaine that night. After Harris almost overdosed on drugs, Warren decided to stay at the apartment overnight, so Jones drove him to work in the morning. Warren further testified that on,the.following Friday, four days after the crime, he asked Brownlee about the Jodie’s Lounge murder, which he had read about in a newspaper article entitled -“Bar robbed, owner killed.” After Warren said to Brownlee, “I know you — that didn’t happen with my car,” Brownlee responded, “it’s good that you was that observant.” Warren testified that Harris was present for this conversation, which took place at Jones’s apartment, and that Goodgame came in later. The men told Warren not to worry because his car was not seen. Warren also testified that he heard nothing about any murder on the day of the crime, although he did notice that two rounds were missing from Harris’s blue .38 after the incident. When Warren asked Harris about this, Harris said, “oh, yeah, about that capping,” and then cut himself off and said, “forget it.” Warren stated at trial that he received some money from Brownlee on the night of the crime as compensation for an auto transmission problem that began when Good-game had been using the car on a previous day. When Brownlee had asked Warren for the car on the night of the crime, he told Warren that he would make sure that Goodgame paid him. .Jones, who is Warren’s cousin and was Brownlee’s girlfriend at the time, testified that Brownlee, Harris, Goodgame, Warren, and another man were all at her apartment around 5:00 p.m. At some point, Brownlee, Harris, and Goodgame left in Warren’s car. Also undermining Good-game’s testimony, Jones said that Warren stayed at the apartment. She said that when the three men returned between one hour and ninety minutes later, Goodgame had a brown paper sack and a gun, and there was nothing in Brownlee’s hands. The three men went into a room for fifteen to twenty minutes, and they emerged carrying jewelry, as Brownlee and Harris argued about a necklace. Jones testified that all three men discussed shooting into the air. Although Jones denied that she obtained any drugs, she stated that she used drugs along with Warren, Brownlee, Harris, Goodgame, and the other individual at her house for almost the whole night. Finally, Jones testified that Brownlee stayed at her apartment after everyone else left, but that there was no discussion about what had happened. At trial, Brownlee did not testify and the defense offered no evidence. On January 7, 1987, the jury returned a verdict finding Brownlee guilty of capital murder. Separate sentencing proceedings commenced the following morning. B. In Alabama, the jury that decides a defendant’s guilt also sits in the first phase of a bifurcated sentencing proceeding, in which it issues an advisory sentencing verdict based on its evaluation of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. See Ala. Code § 13A-5-46. If the jury finds that no aggravating circumstances exist, or that any aggravating circumstances do not outweigh the mitigating circumstances, it must return an advisory verdict recommending life imprisonment without parole. See id. § 13A-5-46(e)(l)-(2). If, on the other hand, the jury finds one or more aggravating circumstances and determines that they outweigh the mitigating circumstances, it must recommend the death penalty. See id. § 13A-5-46(e)(3). Any verdict recommending death must be based on a vote of at least ten jurors, while a recommendation of life imprisonment requires only a majority. See id. § 13A-5-46(f). If the jury can reach neither verdict, a mistrial is declared and another sentencing jury is empaneled. See id. § 13A-5-46(g). After the jury has returned its advisory verdict at the sentencing phase, the trial judge orders and receives a presentence investigation report, hears further arguments, and may receive additional evidence concerning the aggravating and mitigating factors. Taking into account all of the evidence, including that introduced at trial and in the sentencing proceeding before the jury, the court must then enter written findings with regard to the aggravating and mitigating circumstances. See id. § 13A-5-47(d). Like the jury, the trial judge must determine whether any aggravating circumstances exist and, if so, whether those aggravating circumstances outweigh any mitigating circumstances that it may find. In reaching its ultimate decision, the trial court “shall consider the recommendation of the jury contained in its advisory verdict, unless such a verdict has been waived” by the defendant. Id. § 13A-5-47(e). At the time of Brownlee’s sentencing, Alabama’s criminal code enumerated eight aggravating circumstances, see Ala.Code § 13A-5-49, as well as seven non-exclusive mitigating circumstances, see id. § 13A-5-51. In addition to the listed mitigating factors, the statute explains that “mitigating circumstances shall include any aspect of a defendant’s character or record and any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant offers as a basis for a sentence of life imprisonment without parole instead of death.” Id. § 13A-5-52. In this case, the State offered evidence of two aggravating circumstances at the sentencing proceeding before the jury. First, in order to show that “[t]he defendant was previously convicted of another capital offense or a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person,” id. § 13A-5M9(2), the State presented a stipulation, agreed to by defense counsel, that Brownlee had previously been convicted of four counts of robbery, one on June 23, 1980, and three on October 9, 1980. Second, in order- to show that “[t]he capital offense was committed by a person under sentence of imprisonment,” id. § 13A-5-49(1), the State presented the testimony of Billy Cox, Brownlee’s parole officer, who said that Brownlee had been placed on parole on March 31, 1986, and that he remained on parole on the date of the crime. At the sentencing hearing before the jury, Brownlee’s counsel presented no evidence. Instead, each of his lawyers offered only a very brief closing argument. Together, the statements of defense attorneys Dunn and Kendrick take up just over five pages of the trial transcript. Dunn, who spoke first, began his argument by saying, “I am not going to rehash or go back over the trial. You have obviously resolved the issue of guilt against us. I am simply standing up here before you at this time to ask for Virgil Brownlee’s life.” After conceding that Brownlee had prior convictions and was on parole at the time of the crime, Dunn explained to the jury that, despite his involvement in this crime and his own series of prior convictions, co-defendant Goodgame was receiving only life imprisonment, with the possibility of parole, while Brownlee was facing the death penalty. Dunn then said that the State of Alabama on Virgil Brown-lee, under the same facts that Goodgame participated in, is asking you to sentence this man to the electric chair. I don’t say it is easy, but it isn’t hard for [Assistant District Attorney Donald] Russell to do that, because Mr. Russell doesn’t know that man. He is just an object. Just like he is to you. You have never had the opportunity to talk to him, be around him or to know him as a human being, and the lawyers have. So, he is not just an object to us. He is a person. Sure, he has done wrong. Hasn’t always obeyed the law, lived outside of the law a good part of his life. But he is still a person. A living, breathing, human being. And regardless of the fact that he has committed a crime, I still feel for him. Dunn went on to observe that “killing [Brownlee] is not going to bring Mr. Dodd back,” that “[l]ife without parole in this State means just exactly that,” and that state prisons are “pretty terrible.” Finally, he said that there is “[n]o point in haranguing you. You are either going to do it or you’re not. I just beg you not to.... Virgil’s family is back there. They feel for him. They love him, just like Mr. Dodd’s folks loved him,” before concluding “please don’t kill him. That is all I can say. Thank you.” Speaking after Dunn, Kendrick emphasized that even though they had “already made [the] decision as far as the guilt or innocence,” the jurors should note not only that Goodgame received a lighter sentence than death, but also that Warren was not charged at all despite being “an accomplice to this crime.” Kendrick explained that “the evidence established there is no question [Goodgame] was in that bar. He could just as easily have been the trigger man as any of the other two,” and that the disparate treatment of the co-participants in the crime “is just inherently unfair.” Like Dunn, Kendrick noted that Brown-lee’s family was sitting in the courtroom and that “Mr. Brownlee’s family loves him just like Mr. Dodd’s family loved him, and they’ll be just as devastated at his death as Mr. Dodd’s family was when he died.” Kendrick concluded, “I don’t know anything else I can add. I just say under the circumstances, I don’t see how you can sentence this man to the electric chair.” After hearing the prosecutor’s final statement and the court’s penalty phase instructions, the jury deliberated for 38 minutes before recommending a sentence of death by an 11-1 vote. Prior to the second phase of the sentencing proceeding, Judge Hard suggested that defense counsel contact Dr. William Beidleman, a clinical psychologist, to conduct an examination of Brownlee. At the February 24, 1987 judicial sentencing hearing, the defense presented Dr. Beidle-man and two of Brownlee’s sisters as witnesses. Dr. Beidleman, who examined Brownlee at the county jail nine days before the hearing and performed a variety of tests, opined that “Mr. Brownlee has a mixed substance abuse disorder, in remission [due to his incarceration], a mixed personality disorder, and borderline intellectual functioning.” The doctor explained that Brownlee had an IQ of 70, which is classified as “in the mild mental retardation range,” but that his adaptive intelligence indicated that “his skills were somewhat higher.” Therefore, he classified Brownlee as having borderline intellectual functioning, “which is out of the retarded range, but still impaired.” The doctor also noted that Brownlee was “not actively psychotic” and that “[t]here was no evidence of a thought disorder or severe mood disturbance” even though he was “somewhat suspicious and paranoid.” Based on Brownlee’s statements and interviews with Brownlee’s sisters, Dr. Bei-dleman reported that Brownlee had seen visions and suffered from “hypnagogic hallucinations,” which consist of “experiences right before you fall asleep or right upon awakening of seeing threatening figures or animals.” He also observed physical complaints such as hot flashes in the chest, which “were sort of strange and often go along with psychosis.” Dr. Beidleman saw some indication that Brownlee exaggerated in order to portray himself in a negative light, and he also noted hypervigilance and paranoia common in convicted individuals. In addition, Dr. Beidleman testified about Brownlee’s extensive history of drug abuse and stated that, if Brownlee’s reports were true, “his level of intoxication would [have been] significant” at the time of the crime. He also noted that Brownlee had received an undesirable discharge from the army for drug abuse and related conduct, and that Brownlee had undergone past treatment for psychiatric problems and seizures. Dr. Beidleman was followed by two of Brownlee’s sisters, Maryann Andrews and Gail Brownlee. Andrews testified that shortly after Brownlee left the military, he was taken to a psychiatric hospital following an incident in which he chased his family members out of the apartment, threw a television out the window, and jumped out of the second floor apartment window. When family members got to him, Brownlee “was on the floor with his chest all cut up.” Brownlee did not stay at the psychiatric hospital following his visit because his mother could not afford the costs. Andrews also testified that her brother “has always had mood changes” since leaving the military, but that he has never hurt anyone and had helped raise his niece. Gail Brownlee also testified about her brother’s seizures, which occurred between 1973 and 1975, when he was around twenty years old, and included forcing family members out of the apartment and harming himself by jumping out the window and cutting himself in the chest. Before trying to harm himself, Brownlee complained about headaches and said that “he couldn’t take the pain anymore.” After hearing this testimony and receiving a presentence investigation report, the trial court found the existence of three aggravating circumstances and no mitigating factors. The aggravating circumstances were Brownlee’s four prior convictions, the fact that he was on parole at the time of the crime, and the fact that “[t]he capital offense was committed while the defendant was engaged (3)27 in ... the commission of ... robbery.” Ala.Code § 13A-5^49(4). Based on this determination, the judge sentenced Brownlee to die. After his sentencing, Brownlee moved the trial court for a new trial based on newly-discovered evidence. The new evidence consisted of the testimony of two women, Angie Flowers and Eveolene Fowler, who claimed to have seen Brown-lee across town from Jodie’s Lounge right before and right after the robbery and shooting. In response, the state presented the testimony of Assistant District Attorney Russell, who said that Brownlee had told him in a post-conviction meeting that he was in fact in Jodie’s Lounge during the shooting, but that he was under a pool table robbing a patron of his beeper when the fatal shots were fired. The trial court denied the motion for a new trial. Judge Hard appointed Kendrick alone to represent Brownlee on appeal after Dunn asked to be relieved from further duties on the case. Kendrick raised seven issues on appeal, but the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the conviction and sentence on June 28, 1988. See Brownlee v. State, 545 So.2d 151 (Ala.Crim.App.1988). The Alabama Supreme Court affirmed this ruling on March 10, 1989, see Ex parte Brownlee, 545 So.2d 166 (Ala.1989), and the United States Supreme Court denied Brownlee’s petition for a writ of certiorari on October 2, 1989, see Brownlee v. Alabama, 493 U.S. 874, 110 S.Ct. 208, 107 L.Ed.2d 161 (1989), as well as his request for rehearing the following month, see Brownlee v. Alabama, 493 U.S. 986, 110 S.Ct. 527, 107 L.Ed.2d 527 (1989). C. Assisted by new counsel, Brownlee then filed a petition for post-conviction relief in the state court pursuant to Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure. The petition’s 37 grounds for relief included, inter alia, claims that defense counsel performed ineffectively during the trial, sentencing, and appeal; that Goodgame’s admission that he lied in his testimony required a new trial; that Dunn operated under a conflict of interest because of his prior prosecution of Brownlee; that portions of the trial were not transcribed; and that Goodgame was not sworn before he testified. Brownlee also raised various arguments regarding the alleged unconstitutionality of the Alabama death penalty law, both facially and as applied to him. Judge Hard conducted extensive hearings regarding the petition. In order to support his ineffective assistance of counsel claim, Brownlee sought to show that counsel devoted little time to preparing for either the guilt or sentencing phases. Brownlee testified at the Rule 32 hearing that, before the trial, Dunn met with him only two times for 10 to 15 minutes each, and Kendrick met with him three or four times for 15 to 20 minutes each. Neither attorney asked him anything about his personal background, his psychiatric disorders, his limited intellectual ability, his extensive drug and alcohol abuse, his family history, or his extensive history of blackouts and seizures. In addition, neither attorney investigated his alibi claim that he was robbing a drug house at the time of the Jodie’s incident, and neither attorney discussed with him the trial procedure or evidence for the sentencing phase. When they testified, Dunn and Kendrick acknowledged that they had conducted no pre-trial discovery, but they explained that such actions would have been unnecessary since they had full access to all of the district attorney’s files, including witness statements. The attorneys also acknowledged that they conducted virtually no investigation into Brownlee’s personal history, having had only one conversation with one of Brownlee’s sisters, which Mary Ann Andrews said was not until just prior to the sentencing proceeding before Judge Hard. The lawyers did not have Brownlee examined by a psychologist until the court suggested it after the jury sentencing phase because they did not believe that Brownlee had any mental problems. In fact, Dunn observed his client to be of “above average intelligence.” Furthermore, counsel did not probe Brownlee’s drug problems because they believed that a Jefferson County jury would not be sympathetic to an account of voluntary drug use. Brownlee also introduced evidence to suggest that trial counsel could have offered substantial evidence of mitigating circumstances if they had investigated their client’s background. Mary Ann Andrews and Gail Brownlee, the sisters who testified at the sentencing proceeding before the trial court, testified in more detail about Brownlee’s personal history, and Brownlee himself testified as well. The testimony showed that, from the time he was nine or ten years old, Brownlee lived in the Kingston housing project, a high-crime area of Birmingham. One morning, soon after moving to Kingston, Brownlee was stabbed in the chest while on his way to the store to buy bread, and he had to be taken to the hospital. On another occasion, in the mid-1970s, Brownlee was shot multiple times and taken to a local hospital, where his sisters and mother went to see him. Both sisters discussed in detail the multiple seizures that they had already described in the judicial sentencing proceeding. They also provided more information about the incident in which, as described by Andrews, Brownlee threw the television out the window, “tore up” everything in the house, “cut his chest like criss-crossed all the way down,” and ended up convulsing on the floor with “his eyes rolled back in his head.” Gail Brownlee described another incident in which her brother tried to jump out the window of the apartment and their mother attempted to grab him by a foot and arm to keep him inside. Despite her efforts, Brownlee fell to the ground, suffering injuries. On the whole, Gail Brownlee witnessed a number of her brother’s seizures, which occurred as often as once a month and included uncontrollable shaking and foaming at the mouth. Along with the sisters’ accounts, Brownlee presented the testimony of Maxine Ma-guire Driver, a nurse who lived next door to the family. Driver saw Brownlee suffer seizures three times. On the first occasion, she had to use a spoon to prevent him from swallowing his tongue. Aside from their discussions of his seizures, both sisters described Brownlee as a devoted member of the family who was particularly close to and helpful in raising Gail’s daughter Daphne. Despite Brownlee’s incarceration, Gail described him as the closest thing Daphne has to a father. Like the sisters, Dr. Beidleman offered a far more detailed version of his earlier testimony. Based on additional tests administered in preparation for the Rule 32 hearing, including the full MMPI, the critical items .scale, and the competency screening test, as well as his earlier analysis and a review of psychiatric records and prison files, Dr. Beidleman diagnosed Brownlee as having either mild mental retardation or borderline intellectual functioning and suffering from various mental disorders, including schizotypal personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, multiple drug dependencies, and seizure disorder or epilepsy. With regard to Brownlee’s intellectual functioning, Dr. Beidleman explained that Brownlee’s IQ is “in the range of 67, 68, 75,” which is “right on the borderline between having severe social and occupational impairment due to limited intellectual resources and being able to cope in a sort of mildly adaptive manner.” He emphasized that Brownlee was “right on the edge.” The doctor described schizotypal personality disorder as an illness marked by thought disturbance, paranoid ideation, suspieiousnéss, and social anxiety, and often including unusual physical experiences, poor interpersonal relationships, and depressed, flat speech. He described antisocial personality disorder as a “chronic pervasive condition” involving a history of rule-breaking dating back to childhood, followed by irresponsibility and antisocial behavior later in life, often including drug and alcohol abuse. Based on Brownlee’s long history of drag and alcohol abuse, which, according to Brownlee, included cocaine, heroin, and other hallucinogenic drugs dating to his teenage years, Dr. Beidleman diagnosed him as a “polypharmacy individual” who “will take anything he can get.” In his testimony, Dr. Beidleman explained that Brownlee’s serious problems with drugs compounded the problems caused by his substantial intellectual limitations and other psychiatric disorders, and even possibly diminished his mental capacity at the time of the crime. The doctor stated that “it is quite possible” that his seizure disorder and other personality disorders are related to alcohol and drug abuse. He also noted that the seizures, which were confirmed by hospital records from the mid-1970s, could have been connected to an earlier head injury, especially in light of hospital records indicating that Brownlee was shot in the head around that time. Dr. Beidleman further testified that he believed Brownlee was unlikely to engage in violent behavior in prison, where the ability to make his own decisions would be confined and access to alcohol and drugs would be limited. A similar opinion was offered by Frederick Freeman, a correctional officer who supervised Brownlee in 1983 and 1984 and observed that “[h]e conducted himself as a model inmate” who posed no security threat. Aside from the testimony regarding the claims of ineffective assistance, much of the evidence presented at the Rule 32 proceedings concerned Goodgame’s recantation and Dunn’s alleged conflict of interest. Regarding the recantation, the central piece of evidence considered by the court was deposition testimony in which Goodgame said that he was pressured by the district attorney and his own attorney to implicate Brownlee in order to avoid being sentenced to death himself. After first refusing to provide any information, Goodgame said in the deposition that he robbed Jodie’s Lounge not with Brownlee and Harris, but rather with two other individuals from out of town, one of whom was named Ron. Additionally, Brownlee presented the testimony of Marty Lee George and James Louis Threat, two inmates who served in prison with Goodgame and heard him say that Brownlee was not involved in the crime and that he lied in order to avoid the electric chair. Despite his claims of official pressure, however, Goodgame testified that the assistant district attorney did not tell him to lie, and he also said that he never told his attorney about the involvement of the men from out of town. At the hearing, both of Goodgame’s attorneys, Assistant District Attorney Russell, District Attorney David Barber, and Lieutenant Carl Quinn all testified that they did not tell Goodgame to testify untruthfully in order to avoid the death penalty. As for the alleged conflict of interest, the state presented evidence showing that, despite being listed on the case action sheets, defense counsel Dunn did not actually prosecute Brownlee earlier, in 1980. Dunn testified that, as a deputy district attorney at the time, he supervised three attorneys in his division, including Doug Valeska and Don Colee, and the fact that the cases were assigned to those lawyers could explain why his name appeared on the documents. Dunn said that he was “a hundred percent positive” that he had “absolutely no contact” with Brownlee prior to his appointment in the instant case. A court reporter reviewed his notes from the earlier proceedings and testified that Brownlee was prosecuted by Colee in February 1980 and Valeska in May 1980, and that Dunn was not at counsel table for the state. In an affidavit submitted to the court, Valeska said that he prosecuted Brownlee himself and that Dunn did not assist him or participate. Furthermore, Brownlee’s defense attorney from that time, Charles Howard, recalled having no dealings with Dunn. After hearing all of the evidence, the trial court denied Brownlee’s Rule 32 petition. Judge Hard’s opinion included a determination that counsel did not perform ineffectively at either trial or sentencing. With regard to the sentencing hearing, the judge determined that counsel had a strategy for the sentencing phase “centered around the weakness of the State’s case and the emotional and personal plea to spare [Brownlee’s] life,” and held that “[cjonsidering trial counsel’s knowledge of Brownlee’s background there simply were no mitigating circumstances that could be presented by him to the jury and the strategy of counsel was the most reasonable under the circumstances.” The trial court further opined that the testimony of Dr. Beidleman and Brownlee’s sisters, if presented to the jury, “would only have conflicted with and weakened the credibility of trial counsel’s strategy which was based on the weakness of the State’s case.” The court also noted that the evidence of Brownlee’s drug use would not have changed the outcome of the proceedings and that the evidence of good behavior in prison was undermined by his admission in the Rule 32 proceeding that he had used drugs during his current incarceration. The court’s discussion of Brownlee’s numerous other claims included the factual finding that Goodgame’s trial testimony was not perjured, a determination that Dunn had no conflict of interest, and the conclusion that Brownlee had procedurally defaulted his claims alleging that Good-game was not sworn in for his testimony and that parts of the trial were not transcribed. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the trial court’s denial of the Rule 32 petition on January 13, 1995, see Brownlee v. State, 666 So.2d 91 (Ala.Crim.App.1995), and the Alabama Supreme Court denied his petition for certiorari on July 21,1995. On February 6, 1996, Brownlee filed the instant petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. In an amended petition, he raised the same 37 claims that he had raised in his state Rule 32 motion. The district court denied Brownlee’s motion on August 9, 2000. After rejecting Brownlee’s claims of ineffective assistance of counsel in the guilt or innocence phase of the trial, the court discussed in detail the claim that counsel performed ineffectively at sentencing. Determining that counsel’s failure to investigate or present mitigating evidence to the jury was not based on any reasonable strategy, the court held that counsel’s performance was deficient under the first prong of the test established by the Supreme Court in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). The district court held, however, that Brownlee was not entitled to any relief since he could not show prejudice under the second prong of Strickland. Specifically, the court held that the trial judge’s subsequent consideration and rejection of the mitigating evidence cured any defects in the jury phase, especially in light of the strong evidence of aggravating factors and the central role afforded to judges in Alabama’s capital sentencing scheme. The court noted that most of the mitigating evidence presented by Brown-lee was in fact before Judge Hard at the time of sentencing and that this evidence was not so significantly mitigating that the failure to present it to the jury undermined confidence in the outcome of Brownlee’s sentencing, as required by Strickland. After rejecting the ineffective assistance claim regarding sentencing, the district court went on to deny the'claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. The district court also rejected the claim regarding Goodgame’s recantation and Dunn’s, conflict of interest in light of the state trial court’s findings of fact in the Rule 32 proceeding. It further dismissed as procedurally defaulted a number of Brownlee’s other claims, including those involving the alleged failures to swear Goodgame or transcribe a portion of the trial. Appealing the district court’s denial of habeas corpus relief, Brownlee now raises six claims regarding his conviction and fivé claims regarding the imposition of the death penalty. Challenging his conviction, Brownlee argues that: (1) he received ineffective assistance of counsel at the guilt/innocence stage of his trial and on appeal; (2) the district court violated his rights by failing to inquire on the record about Dunn’s conflict of interest; (3) the district court wrongly determined that Good-game’s recantation was not a basis for a new trial; (4) the district court erroneously decided that he had procedurally defaulted the claim that Goodgame was not sworn before testifying; (5) the district court incorrectly determined that his claim that the trial was not fully transcribed was procedurally defaulted; and (6) the trial was tarnished by racial discrimination. Challenging The death sentence, Brown-lee contends that: (1) he received ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase of the state court proceedings; (2) the sentencing proceeding was tarnished by racial discrimination; (3) the- death penalty is applied in Alabama in an arbitrary and racially discriminatory manner; (4) the Constitution prohibits the execution of mentally retarded individuals; and (5) the Constitution bars execution by electrocution. II. We examine the claims regarding Brownlee’s conviction before turning to his death sentence. In so doing, we review the district court’s denial of habeas corpus relief de novo. See Dorsey v. Chapman, 262 F.3d 1181, 1185 (11th Cir.2001). As in other contexts, the district court’s findings of fact are reviewed for clear error, see O’Ryan Castro v. United States, 290 F.3d 1270, 1272 (11th Cir.2002), while legal questions and mixed questions of law and fact are reviewed de novo, see Tinker v. Moore, 255 F.3d 1331, 1332 (11th Cir.2001). Whether a defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel is a mixed question of law and fact, and we therefore review it de novo. See Hagins v. United States, 267 F.3d 1202, 1204 (11th Cir.2001). Similarly, we analyze de novo the mixed question of whether an attorney labored under a conflict of interest. See Freund v. Butterworth, 165 F.3d 839, 862 (11th Cir.1999)(en banc). We also conduct de novo review of a district court’s decision to deny habeas corpus relief on the basis of a procedural default. See Caniff v. Moore, 269 F.3d 1245, 1246 (11th Cir.2001)(per curiam). Further, although this appeal is not governed by the more stringent standards established by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AED-PA”), Pub.L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (1996), 28 U.S.C. § 2241, et seq., because it was filed prior to the April 24, 1996 effective date of that law, findings of fact made by the state trial court in the Rule 32 proceedings are nevertheless entitled to a “presumption of'correctness,” Freund, 165 F.3d at 861. This presumption, which is based on the principle of comity and the understanding that federal habeas review is limited to analyzing claims of constitutional error, mandates considerable deference to state court findings of fact. See Marshall v. Lonberger, 459 U.S. 422, 432, 103 S.Ct. 843, 850, 74 L.Ed.2d 646 (1983) (“This deference requires that a federal habeas corpus court more than simply disagree with the state court before rejecting its factual determinations. Instead, it must conclude that the state court’s findings lacked even fair support in the record.”) (internal quotations omitted). A. Brownlee first argues that his conviction should be overturned because his counsel performed ineffectively by failing to prepare adequately for the guilt/innocence phase of his trial and by committing various unprofessional errors during that proceeding. We examine claims of ineffective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment through the two-part analysis set forth by the Supreme Court in Strickland. Under this test, the petitioner must first show that “counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the ‘counsel’ guaranteed ... by the Sixth Amendment.” Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. If this substantial showing is made, the petitioner must then demonstrate that “the deficient performance prejudiced the defense,” which “requires showing that counsel’s errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable.” Id. As the Supreme Court has explained, “[ujnless a defendant makes both showings, it cannot be said that the conviction ... resulted from a breakdown in the adversary process that renders the result unreliable.” Id. In evaluating the first, or “performance,” prong of Strickland, “[jjudicial scrutiny of counsel’s performance must be highly deferential.” Id. at 689, 104 S.Ct. at 2065. Because retrospective evaluation of a lawyer’s performance can be difficult, “a court must indulge a strong presumption that counsel’s conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance; that is, the defendant must overcome the presumption that ... the challenged action might be considered sound trial strategy.” Id. (internal quotations omitted). A petitioner must identify specific acts or omissions that were not the result of reasonable professional judgment, and a court should deem these acts or omissions deficient only if they “were outside the wide range of professionally competent assistance.” Id. at 690, 104 S.Ct. at 2066. Simply put, the deference afforded an attorney’s decision is great and the bar for proving a Sixth Amendment violation is high. In light of the “strong presumption in favor of competence,” we have held that in order to prove deficient performance, “a petitioner must establish that no competent counsel would have taken the action that his counsel did take.” Chandler v. United States, 218 F.3d 1305, 1315 (11th Cir.2000) (en banc). Under the second, or “prejudice,” prong of Strickland, a petitioner must “affirmatively prove prejudice” by showing that counsel’s errors “actually had an adverse effect on the defense.” 466 U.S. at 693, 104 S.Ct. at 2067. This requires a showing of more than “some conceivable effect on the outcome of the proceeding.” Id. Instead, the petitioner “must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.” Id. at 694, 104 S.Ct. at 2068. Although this standard is difficult to meet, it is significant that a petitioner must show only a reasonable probability that the outcome would have been different; he “need not show that counsel’s deficient conduct more likely than not altered the outcome in the case.” Id. at 693, 104 S.Ct. at 2068. When evaluating this probability, “a court hearing an ineffectiveness claim must consider the totality of the evidence before the judge or jury.” Id. at 695, 104 S.Ct. at 2069. ■ Brownlee argues that his attorneys, Dunn and Kendrick, performed ineffectively before trial by failing to: (1) speak with his initial attorney, Herbert Massie, who had apparently done significant preparatory work; (2) obtain a ballistics expert; (3) visit the scene of the crime; (4) talk to witnesses; (5) investigate the criminal records of the alleged co-participants in the offense; and (6) investigate Brownlee’s alibi. He emphasizes that, by their own admissions, Dunn and Kendrick spent little time preparing for the trial and made only minimal efforts to obtain discovery materials. As the district court determined, however, none of the alleged pre-trial errors can meet the demanding standard set forth in Strickland and Chandler. First, with regard to Brownlee’s claim that counsel failed to speak with his initial attorney or conduct adequate pre-trial investigation, the record reveals that, even though they did not file any discovery motions, Dunn and Kendrick had complete access to all of the State’s evidence and investigative materials as a result of the district attorney’s office’s “open file” discovery policy. This evidence was extensive, and Brownlee does not identify any information that counsel would have obtained if they had conducted more pre-trial discovery. Without doing any investigative work of their own, Dunn and Kendrick had access to all statements given to the police by the patrons of Jodie’s Lounge, the statements of Goodgame, Jones, and Warren, photographs and a diagram of the crime scene, and transcripts of the preliminary hearing. Counsel was clearly able to prepare for trial based on the large volume of materials made available by the State. Indeed, Dunn and Kendrick testified in the post-conviction proceedings that they were not surprised by any of the evidence or testimony presented by the prosecution at trial. Quite simply, Brownlee’s claims do not satisfy either prong of Strickland. Counsel’s decision to rely on the extensive material made available by the district attorney’s office did not fall outside the wide range of professional competence, and Brownlee’s failure to demonstrate that further discovery would have helped the defense clearly bars a finding of prejudice. As we have explained, “[s]peculation is insufficient to carry the burden of a habeas corpus petitioner as to what evidence could have been revealed by further investigation.” Aldrich v. Wainwright, 777 F.2d 630, 636 (11th Cir.1985). Similarly, the district court correctly held that counsel was not ineffective for failing to investigate or present Brownlee’s alibi that he was robbing a “dope house” at the time of the Jodie’s Lounge incident. As we explained in Chandler, “counsel need not always investigate before pursuing or not pursuing a line of defense. Investigation (even a nonexhaustive, preliminary investigation) is not required for counsel reasonably to decline to investigate a fine of defense thoroughly.” 218 F.3d at 1318. The decision whether to present a line of defense, or even to investigate it, “is a matter of strategy and is not ineffective unless the petitioner can prove that the chosen course, in itself, was unreasonable.” Id. The evidence adduced at the state post-conviction proceedings reveals that sound strategy supported counsel’s decision not to pursue the alibi. First, as Kendrick testified, counsel considered the claim particularly weak in light of Brownlee’s initial assertion that the people robbing the dope house with him were Goodgame and Harris. Goodgame admitted that he was at Jodie’s Lounge at the time of the robbery, and both he and Harris were identified by bar patrons as being there during the crime. Although Brownlee testified in the Rule 32 hearing that men named Kenny and Gene could corroborate his alibi, the trial court credited Kendrick’s testimony that Brownlee never told him about these individuals. The state court’s credibility determination is entitled to a presumption of correctness on habeas review, see, e.g., Coulter v. Herring, 60 F.3d 1499, 1503 (11th Cir.1995), and Brownlee offers no reason to disregard this presumption. The weakness of Brownlee’s alibi is further revealed by his failure to provide the location of the dope house he was purportedly robbing, and by the fact that, after trial, he told Kendrick and the assistant district attorney that he was in fact present at Jodie’s Lounge during the crime, but that he did not shoot Dodd. The attorneys’ decision not to pursue Brown-lee’s alibi defense after deeming it implausible and unlikely to succeed is precisely the kind of strategic decision on which a court should defer to the judgment of counsel. See Chandler, 218 F.3d at 1318. In addition to his claims of error before the trial, Brownlee contends that counsel committed a number of errors during the trial itself, including failing to: (1) object to Goodgame’s testifying without being sworn; (2) have the whole trial transcribed; (3) object to the exclusion of Goodgame’s conviction for unlawful possession of a handgun; and (4) inform the jury that Goodgame could have been convicted under Alabama’s habitual offender statute. We are unpersuaded by these claims, either standing alone or in concert. First, the claim regarding the fact that Good-game was not sworn fails because the Rule 32 court found, after reviewing the court reporter’s notes and cassette tape, that Goodgame was in fact sworn before giving his testimony. This factual finding is entitled to a presumption of correctness, see Freund, 165 F.3d at 861, and Brownlee has offered no basis on which to conclude that the finding lacks “fair support in the record,” Marshall, 459 U.S. at 432, 103 S.Ct. at 850. Brownlee’s second claim of ineffective assistance at trial also fails. Even if we assume that Dunn and Kendrick knew that portions of the proceedings were not transcribed and that their failure to rectify the situation somehow rose to the level of deficient performance, Brownlee has not shown, and indeed cannot show, that any omissions from the trial transcript hindered his ability to defend himself or appeal his conviction, or that the omissions in any way undermine confidence in the outcome of the proceedings. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 697, 104 S.Ct. at 2069 (“[A] court need not determine whether counsel’s performance was deficient before examining the prejudice suffered by the defendant as a result of the alleged deficiencies .... If it is easier to dispose of an ineffectiveness claim on the ground of lack of sufficient prejudice, which we expect will often be so, that course should be followed.”). As for the third claim of ineffective assistance during the trial, the State does not deny that the jury was not informed about Goodgame’s 1984 conviction for attempted possession of a handgun by a person convicted of a crime of violence, in violation of Ala.Code § 13A-ll-72(a). The district court correctly determined, however, that, even if the defense lawyers were deficient for failing to bring this conviction to the jury’s attention, Brownlee suffered no prejudice. Despite not hearing about that one conviction, the jury knew about Goodgame’s two other convictions for theft of property in the third degree, in violation of Ala. Code § 13A-8-5, his participation in the Jodie’s Lounge robbery, and the fact that he was testifying pursuant to a plea agreement that covered not only the Jodie’s Lounge incident, but also eight other pending charges (including four robbery charges, two burglary charges, a theft charge, and a receipt of stolen property charge). Especially in light of concerns about Goodgame’s motivations raised by defense counsel during cross-examination and closing argument, this information provided a strong basis for the jurors to question the credibility of the State’s key witness. Moreover, the cross-examination brought out several material-factual discrepancies in Goodgame’s testimony, including whether Goodgame had entered the bar during the robbery and murder.- Because so much evidence about Goodgame’s past bad acts, incentives to testify for the State in this case, and questionable credibility had been presented, we are satisfied that evidence of one additional conviction was not likely to have had a meaningful impact at trial. Similarly, Brownlee did not suffer any prejudice as a result of counsel’s alleged failure to bring to the jury’s attention that, had he not reached a plea agreement with the State, Goodgame could have been sen-fenced to life imprisonment without parole (even if not convicted of a capital offense) pursuant to Alabama’s Habitual Felony Offender Act (“HFOA”), Ala.Code § 13A-5-9. First, as the district court noted, Brownlee’s argument is legally incorrect because Goodgame’s prior convictions all involved misdemeanors and therefore did not render him subject to mandatory life imprisonment under the HFOA, which specifically applies only to offenders with multiple felony convictions. Second, even if Goodgame had avoided the HFOA by pleading guilty, Brownlee suffered no prejudice from his lawyers’ failure to present this fact to the jurors, who plainly were informed about Goodgame’s past crimes and his incentive to testify in the instant case in order to avoid the death penalty. Thus, as with Brownlee’s other claims of ineffective assistance of counsel at trial, we remain unpersuaded. Brownlee also asserts that he received ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. However, he provides no support for this argument and points to no arguments that Kendrick should have raised in challenging his conviction. We therefore have no basis on which to grant relief, especially in light of the significant latitude afforded appellate counsel in “winnowing out weaker arguments on appeal and focusing on those more likely to prevail, [which,] far from being evidence of incompetence, is the hallmark of effective appellate advocacy.” Smith v. Murray, 477 U.S. 527, 536, 106 S.Ct. 2661, 2667, 91 L.Ed.2d 434 (1986) (internal quotations omitted). B. In a claim related to his argument that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, Brownlee also says that the trial court violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel by failing to conduct an on-the-record inquiry into Dunn’s alleged conflict of interest. Although the case action sheets listing Dunn as Brownlee’s prosecutor in the 1980 cases were not brought to the trial court’s attention until the sentencing stage, Brownlee appears to argue that Dunn’s representation was tainted throughout the proceedings. According to Brownlee, the trial court erred by conducting only an off-the-record conversation with counsel at which it was decided that the jury should not see the case action sheets. Brownlee argues that the court was required by Holloway v. Arkansas, 435 U.S. 475, 98 S.Ct. 1173, 55 L.Ed.2d 426 (1978), and Duncan v. Alabama, 881 F.2d 1013 (11th Cir.1989), to advise him of the conflict, its potential effect, and his right to new counsel, and to inquire whether he wished to obtain new counsel or waive the conflict. We remain unpersuaded. Although judges are required to inform defendants and inquire about their preferences if they learn of conflicts of interest at trial, no such obligation exists if there is in fact no conflict. See, e.g., Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 347, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 1717, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980) (“Unless the trial court knows or reasonably should know that a particular conflict exists, the court need not initiate an inquiry.”). A conflict exists when counsel “actively represented conflicting interests.” Id. at 350, 100 S.Ct. at 1719. In this case, Brownlee simply cannot show that a conflict of interest existed because the state trial court squarely rejected the factual predicate that Dunn prosecuted Brownlee in the earlier criminal proceedings. Although Dunn’s name appeared on the case action sheets, he explained, in testimony credited by the trial judge, that he was listed on the sheets simply because he was serving at the time as a deputy district attorney with supervisory responsibility for the attorneys who actually handled the prosecutions. Dunn testified in the Rule 32 proceedings that he was “positive” that he had no contact with Brownlee during the earlier cases, and the court reporter testified, based on his trial notes, that Assistant District Attorney Co-lee prosecuted Brownlee in February 1980, and Assistant District Attorney Valeska did so in May 1980. In an affidavit, Vales-ka said that Dunn did not assist or participate in the May 1980 case. Furthermore, Brownlee’s attorney at the time recalled no dealings with Dunn, and even Brownlee has never said that Dunn was involved in his earlier case. Based on the overwhelming evidence, we have no basis to disturb the presumption of correctness afforded the state court’s factual determination that Dunn was never personally involved in prosecuting Brown-lee. We therefore agree, as a matter of law, that no conflict of interest existed. Brownlee has made no showing that Dunn had inconsistent interests simply because he worked in the district attorney’s office at a time when Brownlee was prosecuted years earlier. See, e.g., Freund 165 F.3d at 859 (“An actual conflict occurs when a lawyer has inconsistent interests.”)