Demetrius Smith v. Lorie Davis, Director

PRISCILLA R. OWEN, Circuit Judge:

Demetrius Dewayne Smith was convicted of capital murder in Texas state court and sentenced to death. The state court's judgment was affirmed on direct appeal, and Smith's state habeas petition was denied. In this federal habeas proceeding, the federal district court held that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals' application of Witherspoon v. Illinois 1 and its progeny was unreasonable because, the district court concluded, the state trial court violated Smith's constitutional right to an impartial jury under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments when it…