A jury found Frederick R. Whatley guilty of the murder of Ed Allen and related offenses and sentenced him to death. This Court affirmed Whatley’s convictions and sentences in 1998.1 Whatley filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus on August 6, 1999, which he amended on April 30, 2001. An evidentiary hearing was held on July 30, 2002, and, after a new judge was assigned to the case, closing arguments were heard on December 8, 2005. The habeas court denied Whatley’s petition in an order filed on December 4, 2006, and this Court granted Whatley’s application for certificate of probable cause to appeal. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the habeas court’s denial of Whatley’s habeas petition. I. Factual Background
The evidence at trial supports the following description of the murder. At 8:45 p.m. on January 26, 1995, Whatley entered Roy’s Bait Shop in Griffin armed with a .32 caliber revolver he had stolen from a relative. The only persons inside the store at the time were the owner, Ed Allen, and an employee named Tommy Bunn. Whatley forced Bunn to lie on the floor behind the service counter and held the .32 caliber revolver to Bunn’s head, and he threatened to shoot Bunn if Allen did not comply with his demand for the money from the cash register. Allen placed the money in a paper sack, and Whatley took it. Whatley backed around to the front of the counter and fired two shots, one shot striking Allen in the chest from a range of 15 to 18 inches and a second shot striking the counter that Bunn was lying behind from a range of 8 inches. Allen pursued Whatley and fired his .44 caliber single-action pistol at him. Whatley left the store and encountered Ray Coursey, who had just arrived at the store in an automobile. Whatley held the revolver to Coursey and demanded a ride. Allen came out of the store and continued firing his pistol at Whatley. Whatley exited Coursey’s automobile on the side opposite from Allen’s position, and he fled on foot. At some point, Whatley was shot in the right knee. After Whatley ran away, Allen returned to the store, told Bunn to call 911, lay down on the floor, and died of internal bleeding.
