Billy Joe Battie v. W. J. Estelle, Jr., Director, Texas Department of Corrections

AINSWORTH, Circuit Judge:

Billy Joe Battie, a Texas state prisoner under sentence of death, has appealed the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. On appeal, petitioner raises only three of the numerous claims originally presented in his petition. 1 Each ground challenges only petitioner’s sentence of death and not his conviction. We withheld our decision in this case pending the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Estelle v. Smith, - U.S. -, 101 S.Ct. 1866, 68 L.Ed.2d 359 (1981). We hold, in light of Smith, that one of his claims has merit, and…