McDaniel

Petitioner, Patrick Charles McKenna, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus contesting the validity of his conviction for first-degree murder, a crime for which he was sentenced to death. The district court upheld the conviction but held that the jury *1486 instruction regarding depravity of mind was unconstitutionally vague as given to the jury and, therefore, was an impermissible aggravating circumstance upon which to base a sentence of death. The State appealed the ruling on the sentence and McKenna cross-appealed, claiming constitutional errors relating to both his conviction and sentence. We affirm the district court’s decision denying relief from the conviction but granting relief concerning the death sentence. We remand for the district court to enter an order granting the writ of habeas corpus with regard to the death sentence unless the State resen-tences McKenna within a reasonable period of time.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

McKenna was imprisoned after conviction for rape at age 17 in 1964. In 1976, McKen-na was paroled. Less than two years later, he was arrested for the rape and robbery of two women. McKenna was later charged and convicted of one count of…