William Clark v. Jill Brown, Warden, California State Prison at San Quentin

William Clark, a California death row inmate, appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition asserting several constitutional errors related to his sentence. We hold that there were two interrelated due process violations in this case. First, we hold that the state trial court’s failure to give a felony-murder special circumstance jury instruction based on the California Supreme Court’s decision in People v. Green, 27 Cal.3d 1 , 164 Cal.Rptr. 1 , 609 P.2d 468 (1980), violated Clark’s due process right to present a complete defense. Second, we hold that the California Supreme Court’s retroactive application of a new interpretation of Green and of the felony-murder special circumstance statute, on direct review, violated Clark’s due process right to fair warning that his conduct made him death-eligible. Finally, we hold that these violations were not harmless. We do not reach Clark’s remaining challenges to his sentence. Our decision does not affect Clark’s conviction for first-degree murder, his two convictions for attempted second degree murder, and his conviction for arson.

I. Background

In the early morning hours of January 6, 1982, Clark…