Pervis T. Payne v. Ricky Bell, Warden

ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

This case was the subject of a prior opinion by this panel, Payne v. Bell, 399 F.3d 768 (6th Cir. Jan.13, 2005), in which, inter alia, we reversed the district court’s denial of Payne’s petition and ordered the district court to issue a conditional writ of a habeas corpus on the ground that the use of the heinous, atrocious, or cruel (“HAC”) aggravating circumstance instruction violated Payne’s Eighth Amendment rights, and the Tennessee state court’s rejection of Payne’s challenge was contrary to clearly established United States Supreme Court precedent. On January 24,…