Opinion ID: 445463
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Trial and Post-Conviction Proceedings

Text: 7 A Lafayette Parish jury found appellant guilty of first-degree murder and recommended imposition of the death penalty. The jury supported its death penalty recommendation by finding the presence of three statutory aggravating circumstances: (1) commission of aggravated rape in the course of the murder, (2) previous conviction of an unrelated aggravated rape, and (3) committing the murder in an especially cruel manner. 1 The trial court accordingly sentenced appellant to death. 8 Appellant's efforts to overturn his conviction and sentence have proved unavailing. On direct appeal, the Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence. State v. Celestine, 443 So.2d 1091 (1983), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 224, 83 L.Ed.2d 154 (1984). That court also refused post-conviction relief. Having exhausted his state remedies, appellant filed this habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254 (1982), in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. The district court denied the petition without holding an evidentiary hearing. In this appeal, appellant urges that the district court erred in not finding merit in his ineffective assistance of counsel claim, in not conducting an evidentiary hearing on that claim, in dismissing his claim of juror bias against him, and in finding no violation of Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968), in the exclusion of a juror for cause.