Ernest Martin v. Betty Mitchell, Warden

OPINION

SILER, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner Ernest Martin, an Ohio death row inmate, appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a). The respondent warden will be referred to as the “State.” This court granted Martin’s application for a certificate of appealability (“COA”), allowing review of his claims of prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, and sufficiency of the evidence, subparts of those issues, and the question of procedural default as it relates to these issues. For the reasons stated hereafter,…