George L. Reynolds v. Jack C. Ellingsworth, Warden and Charles M. Oberly, III

OPINION OF THE COURT

A. LEON HIGGINBOTHAM, Jr., Circuit Judge.

This appeal centers on the district court’s determination that a procedural default in the state courts barred review of the merits of two claims raised in a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging a state conviction. 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1982). Petitioner asserts that the prosecutor’s extensive references in his opening statement to two confessions that were never introduced into evidence, and the failure of the trial court to give a curative instruction, denied him due process. We hold that there exists no “independent and…