Cite as: 505 U. S. 333 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
used to narrow the class of defendants eligible for the death penalty. And proof or disproof of aggravating circumstances, like proof of the elements of the crime, is confined by the statutory definitions to a relatively obvious class of relevant evidence. Sensible meaning is given to the term "innocent of the death penalty" by allowing a showing in addition to innocence of the capital crime itself a showing that there was no aggravating circumstance or that some other condition of eligibility had not been met.12
But we reject petitioner's submission that the showing should extend beyond these elements of the capital sentence to the existence of additional mitigating evidence. In the first place, such an extension would mean that "actual innocence" amounts to little more than what is already required to show "prejudice," a necessary showing for habeas relief for many constitutional errors. See, e. g., United States v. Bagley, 473 U. S. 667, 682 (1985); Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668, 694 (1984). If federal habeas review of capital sentences is to be at all rational, petitioner must show something more in order for a court to reach the merits of his claims on a successive habeas petition than he would have had to show to obtain relief on his first habeas petition.13
But, more importantly, petitioner's standard would so broaden the inquiry as to make it anything but a "narrow" exception to the principle of finality that we have previously described it to be. A federal district judge confronted with
12 Louisiana narrows the class of those eligible for the death penalty by limiting the type of offense for which it may be imposed, and by requiring a finding of at least one aggravating circumstance. See supra, at 342. Statutory provisions for restricting eligibility may, of course, vary from State to State.
13 If a showing of actual innocence were reduced to actual prejudice, it would allow the evasion of the cause and prejudice standard which we have held also acts as an "exception" to a defaulted, abusive, or successive claim. In practical terms a petitioner would no longer have to show cause, contrary to our prior cases. McCleskey v. Zant, 499 U. S. 467, 494- 495 (1991); Carrier, 477 U. S., at 493.
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