Sterling Rault, Sr. v. State of Louisiana

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge,

dissenting in part.

I concur in the denial of rehearing but respectfully dissent from the grant of the stay of execution. There is ample time for Rault to apply to the Supreme Court for a stay. Before staying cases of this kind we should await an express, affirmative statement by the Supreme Court that executions should be stayed in cases presenting the Grigsby issue. Our precedents clearly establish that a prisoner is not entitled to relief on a Grigsby claim. The grant of certiorari in Lockhart v. McCree does not suggest that a Grigsby claim has validity. The stays in Celestine and Alvin R. Moore do not purport to announce a contrary rule, perhaps because they were emergency actions taken before the Supreme Court formally reconvened.