Roderick Nunley v. Michael Bowersox

MURPHY, Circuit Judge.

Roderick Nunley pled guilty in Missouri state court to the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a fifteen year old girl named Ann Harrison. After Nunley waived his right to jury sentencing, the state court sentenced him to death. He now brings this 28 U.S.C. § 2254 action alleging that the state denied his constitutionally protected liberty interest in the right to capital jury sentencing as articulated in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002), and later applied retroactively under Missouri law by State v. Whitfield, 107 S.W.3d 253 (Mo.2003)…