Derek Edmonds v. Aaron Smith

ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

Derek Edmonds and Tyreese Hall were together tried and convicted in state court of brutally beating and sodomizing a homeless man to death. After their joint *739 state appeals were rejected, Hall brought a federal habeas action under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his conviction. The district court rejected Hall's habeas petition on the merits, and this court affirmed. Then Edmonds brought a § 2254 collateral attack of his own, arguing that his conviction was similarly infected by constitutional error. Rather than assess all of Edmonds's claims on the merits, the district…