Ivory Smith v. Kevin L. Winters

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

In 1983 Ivory Smith and his stepbrother burglarized a home occupied by an elderly woman, who in the course of the burglary was murdered by one of the burglars, each of whom confessed to the burglary but claimed that the other was the killer. Both were prosecuted and (in separate trials) were convicted of felony murder. Smith was sentenced to 60 years in prison, the stepbrother to life. After protracted state court proceedings, Smith filed a petition for federal habeas corpus that the district court dismissed on procedural grounds without reaching the merits. This appeal…