Billy Keith McGregor v. Gary Gibson, Warden, Oklahoma State Penitentiary

LUCERO, Circuit Judge.

Billy Keith McGregor was convicted under Oklahoma law of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. A panel of this Court affirmed the district court’s denial of habeas relief to McGregor. We subsequently granted rehearing en banc to review our standard for assessing procedural competency claims. This standard is of particular importance in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Cooper v. Oklahoma, 517 U.S. 348, 116 S.Ct. 1373, 134 L.Ed.2d 498 (1996), holding unconstitutional the Oklahoma law requiring criminal defendants to prove incompetency to…