Charles Sylvester Bell v. John C. Watkins, Commissioner, Mississippi Department of Corrections

RANDALL, Circuit Judge:

Charles Sylvester Bell was convicted of capital murder in a Mississippi state court in 1977 and sentenced to death. On appeal from the federal district court’s denial of habeas corpus relief, 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1976), the defendant contends:(1) that the instructions given the jury during the guilt phase of his trial were constitutionally inadequate;(2) that the exclusion of jurors who expressed conscientious objections to the death penalty violated the rule of Wither-spoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968);(3) that he was denied effective…