James P. Free, Jr., Petitioner-Appellee-Cross-Appellant v. Howard A. Peters, Iii, Respondents-Appellants-Cross-Appellees

POSNER, Chief Judge.

In 1979, James P. Free, Jr. was convicted of a felony murder committed the previous year and was sentenced to death. After exhausting his state remedies, see People v. Free, 94 Ill.2d 378, 69 Ill.Dec. 1, 447 N.E.2d 218 (1983), 112 Ill.2d 154, 97 Ill.Dec. 396, 492 N.E.2d 1269 (1986), 122 Ill.2d 367, 119 Ill.Dec. 325, 522 N.E.2d 1184 (1988), he sought habeas corpus in federal district court. The district judge, concluding on the basis of a study by the late Hans Zeisel that the instructions to the jury at the hearing on whether to sentence Free to death had been so confusing…