Howell v. Trammell

TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judge.

This appeal considers two petitions for habeas relief arising from the murder conviction and death sentence of Michael Wayne Howell. Howell’s first petition came before us in 2002. ' After the Supreme Court ruled that states could not impose capital punishment on persons with mental impairments, we abated that petition and allowed Howell to pursue a mental-disability challenge to his sentence in Oklahoma state court.

In 2005, a state court jury found that Howell was not mentally retarded. 1 Howell then filed a second petition, alleging seventeen grounds for relief from…