Thu Hong Nguyen Missouri Cases

Thu Hong Nguyen appealed the denial of her Rule 29.15 motion for post-conviction relief, arguing that her trial counsel was ineffective for failing to present all available mitigation evidence at her sentencing. The motion court found counsel's performance deficient for not presenting certain details of Nguyen's social history but concluded that Nguyen was not prejudiced because the omitted evidence was largely cumulative. The appellate court affirmed, agreeing that the additional mitigation details would not have materially enhanced the persuasive value of the evidence already before the sentencing court, and thus would not have resulted in a lower sentence.