Cite as: 540 U. S. 12 (2003)
Per Curiam
show that the verdict would surely have been the same had the jury been instructed to find the respondent a "principal" in the offense. After all, he was the only person charged in the indictment, and there was no evidence that anyone else was involved.
Certiorari granted; 310 F. 3d 414, reversed and remanded.
Per Curiam.
The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the grant of habeas relief to respondent Gregory Esparza after concluding that, because the Eighth Amendment requires the State to narrow the class of death eligible defendants, the Ohio Court of Appeals had improperly subjected respondent's claims to harmless-error review. 310 F. 3d 414 (2002). This decision ignores the limits imposed on federal habeas review by 28 U. S. C. § 2254(d), and we therefore grant the petition for certiorari and reverse.
In February 1983, respondent Esparza entered a store in Toledo, Ohio, and approached two employees, Melanie Ger-schultz and James Barailloux. No one else was in the store. At gunpoint, he ordered Gerschultz to open the cash register. Barailloux meanwhile fled the store through a rear door, entering the attached home of the storeowner, Evelyn Krieger. As Barailloux was alerting Krieger to the robbery, he heard a gunshot. Barailloux and Krieger returned to the store and found Gerschultz lying on the floor, fatally wounded by a single gunshot to her neck. The cash register was open and approximately $110 was missing.
Respondent was charged with aggravated murder during the commission of an aggravated robbery, Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2903.01 (Anderson 2002), and aggravated robbery, § 2911.01. He was convicted on both counts, and the trial judge accepted the jury's recommendation that he be sentenced to death for the murder conviction. The trial judge additionally sentenced respondent to 7 to 25 years' imprisonment for aggravated robbery, plus 3 years for the firearm specification. The Ohio Supreme Court affirmed the convic-
13
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007