Anthony J. Larette v. Paul Delo

LOKEN, Circuit Judge.

Anthony J. LaRette, a Missouri inmate under sentence of death, appeals the district court judgment 1 denying his fourth amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus. We affirm.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

At 11:00 a.m. on July 25, 1980, eighteen-year-old Mary Fleming, bleeding profusely, ran across a street in St. Charles, Missouri, and collapsed on the doorstep of a neighbor who immediately called the police. Fleming was naked except for a pulled-up bikini top. She had been stabbed several times in the chest, and her neck was slashed from ear to ear. Her forehead…