Irving v. Hargett

MEMORANDUM OPINION

READY, Chief Judge.

This is a habeas corpus action brought by petitioner John Buford Irving, III, who challenges the constitutionality of his conviction and sentence for capital murder in the state courts of Mississippi. On November 12, 1976, Irving, after a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Pontotoc County, was convicted of capital murder of Gambrell Ray 1 and sentenced to suffer death in the gas chamber at the Mississippi State Penitentiary-

Irving, then 20 years of age, was the first defendant to be tried, convicted, and sentenced under the bifurcated procedure promulgated…