Cite as: 518 U. S. 152 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
Sorrell murders as evidence against [him] until such a late date that it was impossible for [his] defense counsel reasonably to prepare or defend against such evidence at trial," and that Tucker " 'sold' his testimony to the Commonwealth for . . . less than a life sentence." 1 Joint Appendix in No. 94-4009 (CA4), pp. 32-33 (hereinafter J. A.).
The Commonwealth moved to dismiss the petition. To clarify its arguments against petitioner's Sorrell murder claim, it characterized petitioner's allegations as seven separate subclaims. The first subclaim asserted that petitioner was given "inadequate notice of the evidence which the Commonwealth intended to introduce to permit him to defend against it," and the third, relying on Brady v. Maryland, 373 U. S. 83 (1963), asserted that "[t]he Commonwealth failed to disclose evidence tending to prove that someone else had committed the Sorrell murders." 2 Respondent's Brief in Support of Motion to Dismiss in No. 3:91CV693 (ED Va.), p. 2. According to the Commonwealth, the notice-of-evidence subclaim was meritless and could not be the basis for relief in federal habeas corpus proceedings because it sought the retroactive application of a new rule of constitutional law. Id., at 18-19, 19-20. The Commonwealth alleged that the Brady subclaim had not been presented to the state courts on direct appeal or in state habeas corpus proceedings, and was thus procedurally barred under Va. Code Ann. § 8.01-654(B)(2) (1992). Respondent's Brief in Support of Motion to Dismiss, supra, at 19.
Initially, the District Court dismissed the habeas petition. The court adopted the Commonwealth's characterization of petitioner's Sorrell claim. See 1 J. A. 193. The court held that petitioner was not entitled to relief on the notice-of-evidence subclaim, because he "has no constitutional right to notice of individual items of testimony which the Com-2 The other five subclaims are not relevant to our review.
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