Hawkins v. Gibson

*661TACHA, Chief Judge.

Petitioner-appellant Don Wilson Hawkins appeals the denial of habeas relief, see 28 U.S.C. § 2254, from his Oklahoma first-degree felony murder conviction and death sentence. Among other claims, Hawkins argues that the State improperly based his first-degree felony murder conviction on kidnapping for extortion, which is not a specifically enumerated felony supporting a first-degree murder conviction under Oklahoma law. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, nevertheless, interpreted Oklahoma’s first-degree felony murder statute to include kidnapping for extortion as an…