Ricky Langley v. Howard Prince, Warden

A Louisiana jury convicted Ricky Langley of second-degree murder. The state court overturned that conviction on direct appeal. So the State retried Langley and re-convicted him. Langley now seeks federal habeas relief. He argues his prior conviction should be construed as an implicit acquittal that bars the re-conviction and allows him to walk free. We disagree.

I

While on parole for a prior child-molestation conviction, Ricky Langley choked a six-year-old boy into unconsciousness and then, to ensure the child was dead, strangled him with a ligature and shoved a sock into the child's mouth.…