James O'Neal v. Margaret Bagley

AMENDED OPINION

COLE, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted James O’Neal of the aggravated murder of his wife, and a state trial court sentenced him to death at the jury’s recommendation. The Ohio courts affirmed his conviction and sentence' on direct review and denied post-conviction relief. O’Neal then filed a petition for habeas corpus in federal court, which the district court denied. We affirm.

I

In September 1998, James O’Neal moved into a house in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife Carol O’Neal, her four children, all from prior relationships, and his two sons, also, from prior relationships. The…