John Christopher Sawyers v. James A. Collins, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division

EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judge:

Defendant, John Christopher Sawyers, was convicted by a jury of capital murder, and sentenced to death. His conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal. Sawyers filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1988), claiming that (a) the special issues submitted to the sentencing jury did not enable them to give mitigating effect to evidence that he was intoxicated at the time of the offense; and (b) he was denied effective assistance of counsel when his trial attorney advised his relatives that he…