Willie James Pye was sentenced to death for kidnapping, robbing, raping, and murdering Alicia Yarbrough. In federal habeas proceedings, he argued that trial counsel failed to investigate and present mitigation about his impoverished, neglectful, and violent childhood; low intellectual functioning and depression; and ability to adapt safely to prison. The Eleventh Circuit, sitting en banc, affirmed denial of relief on this sentencing ineffective-assistance claim and remanded other claims to the original panel. It assumed counsel performed deficiently but held that the Georgia habeas court could reasonably find no prejudice under Strickland and AEDPA. The majority concluded that the state court reasonably weighed the mitigation evidence against the crime’s brutality and aggravating circumstances, and could discount disputed or weakly supported evidence, including family accounts and experts’ opinions. It also cited evidence of Pye’s prison misconduct and found the proposed mitigation materially weaker than cases in which the Supreme Court had granted relief. Judge Jordan concurred in the judgment, concluding on de novo review that the mitigation evidence did not create a reasonable probability that one juror would have voted against death. Judge Jill Pryor, joined by Judge Wilson, dissented, viewing the omitted evidence as powerful mitigation and the state court’s prejudice decision as unreasonable.