306
Opinion of the Court
II
On January 5, 1989, after exhausting his state collateral remedies,13 Schlup filed a pro se petition for a federal writ of habeas corpus, asserting the claim, among others, that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to interview and to call witnesses who could establish Schlup's innocence.14 The
District Court concluded that Schlup's ineffectiveness claim was procedurally barred, and it denied relief on that claim without conducting an evidentiary hearing.15 The Court of Appeals affirmed, though it did not rely on the alleged procedural bar. Schlup v. Armontrout, 941 F. 2d 631 (CA8 1991). Instead, based on its own examination of the record, the Court found that trial counsel's performance had not been constitutionally ineffective, both because counsel had reviewed statements that Schlup's potential witnesses had given to prison investigators, and because the testimony of those witnesses "would be repetitive of the testimony to be presented at trial." Id., at 639.16 But cf. 11 F. 3d 738, 746,
without eligibility for probation or parole, see State v. Stewart, 714 S. W. 2d 724 (Mo. App. 1986).
13 The denial of Schlup's motion for postconviction relief was affirmed by the Missouri Supreme Court on October 18, 1988. See Schlup v. State, 758 S. W. 2d 715 (Mo. 1988).
14 Schlup identified three nonparticipant witnesses who he claimed had witnessed the murder: Van Robinson, Lamont Griffin Bey, and Ricky McCoy. Schlup also faulted trial counsel for failing to interview Randy Jordan, whom Schlup identified as the third participant in the murder.
15 Schlup had presented the ineffectiveness claim in his state postconviction motion, but had failed to raise it on appeal. See Schlup v. Armon-trout, No. 89-0020C(3), 1989 U. S. Dist. LEXIS 18285, *11-*13 (ED Mo., May 31, 1989).
Schlup's first federal habeas petition also raised several other claims, all of which were denied either as procedurally barred or on the merits.
16 The Court of Appeals also addressed Schlup's other claims. Over Judge Heaney's dissent, the court rejected Schlup's claim that his counsel had been ineffective for failing to adduce available mitigating evidence at the penalty hearing. Schlup v. Armontrout, 941 F. 2d, at 639. The court
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