Kimber Edwards v. Donald Roper

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge.

Kimber Edwards was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in a Missouri trial court. The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed the conviction and sentence on direct appeal, State v. Edwards (Edwards I), 116 S.W.3d 511 (Mo. 2003), and later affirmed the denial of Edwards’s motion for postconviction relief. Edwards v. State (Edwards II), 200 S.W.3d 500 (Mo.2006). Edwards filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, raising thirteen grounds for relief. The district court 1 denied the petition, but granted a certificate of appealability…