Mark Henry Lankford v. Arvon J. Arave, Warden, Idaho State Correctional Institution

In this pre-AEDPA case, we are called upon to review counsel’s performance in a twenty-two year old capital murder trial. Finding that the record is clear that counsel requested critical jury instructions that were correct under federal law but clearly in error under Idaho law and that the error was not harmless, we reverse the judgment of the district court and grant the writ.

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

Robert and Cheryl Bravence were reported missing when they failed to arrive at a relative’s house following an extended camping trip in the summer of 1983. One week later, officials discovered their van abandoned at a Los Angeles bus terminal. In September, hunters found the couple’s remains in a remote Idaho campground, not far from their last known campsite. The skulls of both were badly damaged, indicating they had died of blunt trauma to the head.

Two brothers, Mark and Bryan Lank-ford, were arrested for the murders. Investigators found Mark’s car about a quarter of a mile from the victims’ bodies and his handwriting on credit slips for food and lodging purchased with the victims’ stolen credit cards. Investigators found both brothers’ fingerprints in the Bravences’ abandoned…