Willie Albert Smith v. Eddie Lucas, Commissioner, Mississippi Department of Corrections

KING, Circuit Judge:

The Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (Respondent) appeals an order of the district court granting a writ of habeas corpus in favor of the petitioner, Willie Albert Smith, based upon the failure of the State of Mississippi to comply with the district court’s order of November 23, 1992. In that order, the district court had declared that it would grant a writ of habeas corpus “as to Smith’s death sentence” unless the State initiated certain proceedings within six months to correct the constitutional infirmity in that sentence. When the deadline…