Jacobs v. Scott

JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge:

Jesse Jacobs was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Etta Urdiales, the young mother of two children. When Jacobs’s sister was later tried for the same killing, the state changed its position, claiming that Jacobs’s sister, not Jacobs, fired the bullet that killed the victim. Jacobs now seeks federal habeas corpus relief from his conviction and death sentence. The federal district court denied Jacobs’s petition for writ of habeas corpus and denied a certificate of probable cause (“CPC”) to appeal. Concluding that Jacobs has not made a substantial…