Kenneth W. Wheat, Cross-Appellant v. Morris Thigpen, Commissioner, Mississippi Department of Corrections, Cross-Appellees

ROBERT MADDEN HILL, Circuit Judge:

In this federal habeas action, the respondents, Morris Thigpen, Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, and others (collectively the State), appeal the district court’s order vacating the petitioner’s death sentence. The petitioner, Kenneth William Wheat, appeals the district court’s denial of relief as to the guilt-innocence phase of his trial. We affirm the order of the district court in all respects.

I

A Mississippi jury found Wheat guilty of capital murder in 1980 and imposed the death penalty. Wheat’s lawyers took a direct appeal to the…