158
Opinion of the Court
gated the Sorrell murders, testified that he found Lisa's body in the front seat of a partially burned automobile and Shanta's body in the trunk. Dr. Faruk Presswalla, the medical examiner who had performed autopsies on the bodies, testified that Lisa was killed by six bullets to the head, shot from a .32-caliber gun. Gray, supra, at 345, 356 S. E. 2d, at 175. Petitioner's counsel did not cross-examine Dr. Presswalla, and only cross-examined Officer Slezak to suggest that McClelland's murder may have been a "copycat" murder, committed by a different perpetrator. 18 Record 793, 802.1
The jury fixed petitioner's sentence for McClelland's murder at death. The trial court entered judgment on the verdicts for all the charges against petitioner and sentenced him to death. The Virginia Supreme Court affirmed, 233 Va. 313, 356 S. E. 2d 157, and we denied certiorari, Gray v. Virginia, 484 U. S. 873 (1987). The Suffolk Circuit Court dismissed petitioner's state petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The Virginia Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal, and we denied certiorari. Gray v. Thompson, 500 U. S. 949 (1991).
C
Petitioner then sought a writ of habeas corpus from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. With respect to the Sorrell murders, he argued, inter alia, that he had "never been convicted of any of these crimes nor was he awaiting trial for these crimes," that the Commonwealth "did not disclose its intentions to use the
1 The prosecutor introduced this testimony as evidence of petitioner's future dangerousness. The prosecutor also introduced into evidence petitioner's criminal record, which included 13 felony convictions, at least 9 of which were for crimes of violence, including armed robbery and malicious wounding. Petitioner's record revealed that he had locked a restaurant's employees in a food freezer while robbing the restaurant, and threatened the lives of two persons other than McClelland. Gray v. Commonwealth, 233 Va. 313, 353, 356 S. E. 2d 157, 179, cert. denied, 484 U. S. 873 (1987).
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