Richard Boyer v. Kevin Chappell

We must decide whether the California Supreme Court violated the United States Constitution in affirming a habeas petitioner’s two first degree murder convictions and his death sentence.

I

A California state court jury convicted Richard Delmer Boyer of the double murder of an elderly couple, Francis and Aileen Harbitz. After a separate penalty proceeding, the jury returned a sentence of death.

A

At the guilt phase of trial, the prosecution showed that the Harbitzes had been stabbed to death in their Fullerton, California home on December 7, 1982. When their son William Harbitz entered the home five days later, he discovered his father’s body sitting upright against a bloody wall in the hallway and his mother’s body covered in blood on the living room floor. Francis had sustained approximately 24 stab wounds to the neck, chest, and back, and bled to death because of knife wounds to the heart and aorta. Aileen had suffered 19 stab wounds and likewise bled to death as a result of her injuries. The Harbitzes’ residence did not show signs of forced entry nor had it been ransacked, and there was approximately $400 worth of cash in the home when the bodies were…