Smith v. McKee

Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant's habeas petition challenging his murder conviction on grounds that his trial and appellate counsel were ineffective, and that prosecutor violated Confrontation Clause. Defendant had procedurally defaulted all three issues by failing to raise them either in one round of state-court review or in state-court post-conviction petition, or because state court had denied said claims based on independent state law ground of forfeiture. Moreover, defendant could not get around instant procedural defaults by demonstrating claim of actual innocence where defendant's proffered statements from newly discovered witnesses could not sufficiently counter state's two eye-witness identifications and defendant's self-inculpatory statement.