Richard Gerry Drinkard v. Gary L. Johnson, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division

E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:

Richard Gerry Drinkard, a Texas death row inmate, seeks a certificate of probable cause (“CPC”) to appeal the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Construing his application for CPC as an application for a certificate of appeala-bility (“COA”) under 28 U.S.C. § 2253, as amended by section 102 of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (the “AEDPA”), Pub.L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (1996), we grant the COA because Drin-kard has made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.

Turning to the…