Roosevelt Abernathy, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Larry Norris, Defendant-appellee, 56 F.3d 68 (8th Cir. 1995)

Arkansas inmate Roosevelt Abernathy was convicted of capital felony murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. His conviction was affirmed on appeal. Abernathy v. State, 644 S.W.2d 590 (1983). He was denied post- conviction relief by the Arkansas courts, and his first petition for a federal writ of habeas corpus was denied after an evidentiary hearing. Abernathy now appeals the district court's¹  denial of his second petition for a writ of habeas corpus. We affirm.

Abernathy's second petition is based upon relatively recent developments in the Arkansas law of capital felony murder. The district court dismissed this successive petition as an abuse of the writ because Abernathy did not show cause for failing to raise these claims in his first petition and prejudice resulting from that failure, or actual innocence. After carefully considering the arguments presented by Abernathy on appeal, we affirm for the reasons stated in the magistrate judge's thorough opinion. See Rule 47B.