Issue is whether 4th circuit erred when applying restrictive standard of 28 USC 2254 which is reserved for claims adjudicated on merits in state court, to evaluate a claim predicated on evidence of prejudice the state court refused to consider and received for the first time in a federal evidentiary hearing.

Bell was charged and convicted of murder of a police Sergeant and sentenced to death. Bell claims there was insufficient legal counseling regarding mitigation, namely that he had lived a tough life, and that several wives had good relationships with him, which would seemingly negate the prosecutions.