Flowers

Howard William Flowers, a Washington state prisoner, appeals the dismissal of his second petition for a writ of habeas corpus brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . The district court dismissed Flowers’s second petition after concluding that it did not rely on “a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable.” 28 U.S.C. § 2244 (b)(2)(A) (1994 & Supp. IV 1998). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse.

I.

BACKGROUND

On January 17, 1979, Flowers was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Flowers filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on October 10, 1989, alleging constitutional violations unrelated to his second petition. The petition was denied on July 31,1990.

On August 26, 1997, we granted Flowers leave to file a second habeas petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2244 (b)(3)(A). The second petition alleged a violation of Flowers’s constitutional rights under Riggins v. Nevada, 504 U.S. 127 , 112 S.Ct. 1810 , 118 L.Ed.2d 479 (1992). The Supreme Court decided Riggins in 1992, several years after the denial of Flowers’s first habeas petition. Riggins holds…