David Zink, Appellant v. State of Missouri, Respondent

Summary

The court affirmed the denial of post-conviction relief from Zink's first-degree murder conviction and death sentence. It held that counsel's challenged strategic and litigation decisions did not satisfy ineffective-assistance requirements, that several claims were procedurally barred or noncognizable, and that the lethal-injection challenge was unripe. The court also concluded that the penalty instructions did not violate the constitutional rules governing jury findings of sentence-enhancing facts.