Legal Opinion
Robert Wayne Sawyer v. John Whitley, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Decided November 14, 1991No. 91-3658PublishedCited by 57 opinions
1Opinion of the Court
KING, Circuit Judge:
After granting Robert Sawyer a certificate of probable cause and a stay of execution, we review the merits of his second federal habeas petition. Sawyer presents one successive claim and two abusive claims in this second petition. 1 He repeats the claim that his counsel was ineffective in failing to present at the sentencing phase of his capital murder trial evidence of his mental impairment. We dismiss this successive claim because Sawyer fails to show that he is “actually innocent” of the death penalty. Sawyer contends for the first time in his second petition (1) that…
2Cases cited43 opinions
- Jackson v. VirginiaSupreme Court of the United States · 1979
- Gregg v. GeorgiaSupreme Court of the United States · 1976
- Murray v. CarrierSupreme Court of the United States · 1986
- Lockett v. OhioSupreme Court of the United States · 1978
- McCleskey v. ZantSupreme Court of the United States · 1991
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3Cited by57 opinions
- Sawyer v. WhitleySupreme Court of the United States · 1992
- Martinez-Villareal v. LewisCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 1996
- Ward v. WhitleyCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 1994
- Bowling v. CommonwealthKentucky Supreme Court · 2005
- Frederick Allen Noble v. Talmadge L. BarnettCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 1994
52 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.