Kirkpatrick v. Chappell

BEA, Circuit Judge:

I. BACKGROUND

In September 1983, William Kirkpatrick was arrested and subsequently tried and *1161convicted for robbing a Taco Bell restaurant in Burbank, California and for murdering two Taco Bell employees in the course of his robbery. He was 23 years old. The two victims, one of whom was 16 years old, were later found stuffed in a closet; both had been shot in the head, "execution style." Because the California Supreme Court's opinion in People v. Kirkpatrick , 7 Cal.4th 988, 30 Cal.Rptr.2d 818, 874 P.2d 248 (1994) (in bank), disapproved of on other grounds by People v. Doolin…