Smith v. Gibson

BALDOCK, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner-appellant Phillip DeWitt Smith appeals from the district court’s denial of his petition for habeas relief, see 28 U.S.C. § 2254, from his Oklahoma first degree murder conviction and death sentence. On appeal, he raises seven grounds for relief: 1) prosecutorial misconduct; 2) an evidentiary harpoon resulting from a witness volunteering that petitioner had kidnaped his daughter; 3) the lack of a cautionary instruction regarding an informant’s testimony; 4) ineffective representation at sentencing; 5) the trial court’s failure to instruct the jury on lesser…