Pickens v. Lockhart

MEMORANDUM OPINION

HENRY WOODS, District Judge.

HISTORY OF LITIGATION

Edward Charles Pickens has been on death row for seventeen years. The facts in his case are set forth in the appeal of his original conviction and sentence. Pickens v. State, 261 Ark. 756, 551 S.W.2d 212 (1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 909, 98 S.Ct. 1459, 55 L.Ed.2d 500 (1978); petition for post-conviction relief, Pickens v. State, 266 Ark. 486, 586 S.W.2d 1 (1979), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 964, 101 S.Ct. 2036, 68 L.Ed.2d 342 (1981). The facts are also set out in detail in my original federal habeas decision. Pickens v. Lockhart,…