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PUBLISH

Before TACHA, LUCERO, and HARTZ, Circuit Judges.

Lonnie Richie was convicted in Oklahoma state court of the first-degree murder of Laura Launhardt and sentenced to death. He was also convicted of kidnapping for extortion, robbery with a firearm, unauthorized use of a debit card, and larceny of a vehicle. After unsuccessfully seeking relief in state court, Mr. Richie filed an application for habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. The district court set aside the murder conviction on the ground that the trial court should have instructed the jury on the lesser-included offense of second-degree depraved-mind murder. It also ruled that even if the conviction were upheld, the death sentence should be set aside because Mr. Richie’s trial counsel was ineffective at the trial’s penalty phase for not exploring or presenting mitigating evidence of hisbrain damage. See Richie v. Sirmons, 563 F. Supp. 2d 1250 (N.D. Okla. 2008). The court granted no relief with respect to Mr. Richie’s other convictions.

 
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