Charles Lee Thomas v. Donald W. Wyrick and John Ashcroft, Attorney General of State of Missouri

STEPHENSON, Senior Circuit Judge.

The central issue in this habeas corpus action is whether a trial court ruling which precluded the testimony of character witnesses for a criminal defendant as a sanction for noncompliance with a pretrial discovery order violated petitioner’s rights under the compulsory process clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The district court 1 denied petitioner’s requested habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, concluding that the exclusion of character witnesses did not substantially prejudice his case and did not violate his rights…