Mark Rogers v. E. McDaniel

Through its officials, the state of Nevada appeals the district court’s grant of partial habeas corpus relief to petitioner Mark Rogers, a Nevada prisoner who has been sentenced to death. Rogers cross-appeals from the district court’s decision not 'to stay habeas corpus proceedings due to Rogers’s purported incompetency, and also challenges the district court’s denial of ha-beas corpus relief on other claims. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. ■§§ 1291 and 2253. Because a penalty-phase jury instruction was unconstitutionally vague under law clearly established by the U.S. Supreme Court at the time of trial, and this error had a substantial and injurious effect, we affirm the district court’s decision to grant the writ on this basis. We also conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Rogers a competency stay. Finally, we expand Rogers’s Certificate of Appealability (“COA”) as to several of his claims, vacate the district court’s denials of relief on those claims, and remand for further proceedings.

I

A. Rogers’s offenses and trial.

In 1981, Rogers was charged with three counts of murder, as well as larceny and attempted murder. The Nevada…