Jon Keith Smith v. Michael Groose Missouri Attorney General

WOLLMAN, Chief Judge.

Jon Keith Smith was convicted of first-degree felony murder, 1 armed criminal ae tion, robbery, and burglary in Missouri state court and was sentenced to five terms of life imprisonment. He appeals from the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Although we do not lightly overturn this thirteen-year-old state conviction, we conclude that we are compelled to do so. We reverse and remand the case with directions to issue an appropriate writ because the State’s use of inconsistent prose-cutorial theories violated Smith’s due…