Flowers v. Walter

Howard William Flowers, a Washington state prisoner, appeals the dismissal of his second petition for a writ of habeas corpus brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The district court dismissed Flowers’s second petition after concluding that it did not rely on “a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable.” 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(2)(A) (1994 & Supp. IV 1998). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we reverse.

I

BACKGROUND

On January 17, 1979, Flowers was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in…