Cite as: 508 U. S. 333 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
murder instructions preceded the voluntary-manslaughter instructions, but did not expressly direct the jury that it could not return a murder conviction if it found that the defendant possessed a mitigating mental state, it was possible for a jury to find that a defendant was guilty of murder without even considering whether he was entitled to a voluntary-manslaughter conviction instead. 905 F. 2d, at 1136. "Explicit misdirection on this scale," the Seventh Circuit held, "violates the constitutional guarantee of due process." Id., at 1137. In reaching this conclusion, the Court of Appeals placed principal reliance on Cupp v. Naughten, 414 U. S. 141 (1973).
At respondent's federal habeas proceeding, the State conceded that the jury instructions given at respondent's trial were unconstitutional under Falconer, but argued that the rule announced in Falconer was "new" within the meaning of Teague v. Lane, 489 U. S. 288 (1989), and therefore could not form the basis for federal habeas relief. The District Court agreed, but the Court of Appeals reversed. 954 F. 2d 441 (1992). Although the Seventh Circuit now thought Cupp was "too general to have compelled Falconer within the meaning of Teague," 954 F. 2d, at 452, it concluded that Boyde v. California, 494 U. S. 370 (1990), and Connecticut v. Johnson, 460 U. S. 73 (1983) (plurality opinion), were "specific enough to have compelled" the result reached in Falconer, 954 F. 2d, at 453. Accordingly, the Court of Appeals held that the rule announced in Falconer was not "new" within the meaning of Teague, and that Teague therefore did not bar the retroactive application of Falconer in respondent's case. Id., at 453. We granted certiorari, 506 U. S. 814 (1992), and now reverse.
The retroactivity of Falconer under Teague and its progeny is the only question before us in this case. Subject to two narrow exceptions, a case that is decided after a defendant's conviction and sentence become final may not provide
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