Robert T. Sidebottom v. Paul Delo Jay Nixon

WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

Robert T. Sidebottom, convicted and sentenced to death for the capital murder of his seventy-four year old grandmother, May Sidebottom, appeals the district court’s 1 order denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. We affirm.

I

The facts giving rise to Sidebottom’s conviction are fully set forth in the Missouri Supreme Court’s opinion in Sidebottom’s direct appeal. State v. Sidebottom, 753 S.W.2d 915 (Mo.) (en banc), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 975, 109 S.Ct. 515, 102 L.Ed.2d 550 (1988). We summarize them here briefly.

In the late afternoon of…