Billy Riley v. E. McDaniel

OPINION

REINHARDT, Circuit Judge:

I. Introduction

Billy Ray Riley was convicted of the robbery and murder of Albert “Ramrod” Bollin in 1990. With respect to the robbery conviction, Riley was adjudicated to be an habitual criminal and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. With respect to the murder conviction, Riley was sentenced to death. Only the murder conviction and death sentence are challenged here.

Riley raises a number of ineffective assistance of trial counsel and instructional error challenges to his murder conviction and sentence. As pertinent here, Riley argues that one…