Pizzuto
Pizzuto v. Blades
Opinion
Opinion
GOULD, J.
Joan M. Fisher, Office of Federal Defender for the Eastern District of California, Capital Habeas Unit, Sacramento, CA, for the petitioner.
L. LaMont Anderson, Office of the Idaho Attorney General, Boise, ID, for the respondent.
Before: BETTY B. FLETCHER, RONALD M. GOULD, and JOHNNIE B. RAWLINSON, Circuit Judges.
Opinion by Judge GOULD; Dissent by Judge B. FLETCHER.
GOULD, Circuit Judge:
Gerald Ross Pizzuto, Jr., requests permission to file a second or successive application for a writ of habeas corpus in the District of Idaho. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244 (b)(3)(A).
Pizzuto was convicted of two counts of murder in the first degree, two counts of felony murder, one count of robbery, and one count of grand theft on March 27, 1986. He was sentenced to death for the murders of Berta Louise Herndon and her nephew, Delbert Dean Herndon, on May 23, 1986. Our opinion of February 6, 2002 details the circumstances of Pizzuto's crimes and the evidence presented at his trial:
Pizzuto v. Arave, 280 F.3d 949, 952-54 (9th Cir.2002).
Pizzuto's conviction and sentence were upheld on direct review. On state collateral review, the Idaho Supreme Court vacated Pizzuto's robbery conviction, concluding…