Whisenhant v. Allen

This is a death penalty case in which petitioner-appellant, Thomas Warren Whi-senhant, appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for federal habeas relief. Whisenhant raises four claims in this appeal: (1) his counsel was ineffective at his 1981 guilt phase trial for failing to present his only defense of insanity; (2) the state failed to disclose exculpatory evidence during the 1981 trial and a 1987 penalty phase trial; (3) the prosecutor’s closing argument at the 1981 trial was fundamentally unfair; and (4) the trial judge’s ex parte dealings with prosecutors…