MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Petitioner George Cordova filed this action pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. Section 2254 seeking federal habeas corpus review of his state conviction for capital murder and sentence of death. As grounds for relief, petitioner argues in his first amended petition that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance at both the guilt-innocence and punishment phases of petitioner’s state capital murder trial, the state trial court erred in its jury instructions at both phases of trial, petitioner’s death sentence violates the law of proportionality, the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence, the evidence was legally insufficient to support the jury’s verdict on the first special sentencing issue, and the cumulative effect of the foregoing alleged errors warrants federal habeas corpus relief. Because petitioner filed his federal habeas corpus petition prior to the -effective date of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penal*480ty Act of 1996 [“AEDPA”],1 this Court has been required to conduct a de novo review of each of petitioner’s claims for relief herein.2 For the reasons set forth at length hereinafter, this Court finds no merit to any of the petitioner’s claims for relief and, therefore, denies petitioner’s federal habeas corpus petition, and vacates the stay of execution issued in this cause on October 23,1995.
I. Statement of the Case
A Factual Background
During the early morning hours of August 4, 1979, petitioner George Cordova, Manuel Villanueva, and two other persons fatally assaulted and stabbed Jose M. “Joey” Hernandez, dragged Cynthia West from Hernandez’s vehicle, sexually assaulted her, robbed both West and the body of Hernandez of jewelry and other items, and fled the scene with Hernandez’s vehicle, which was later found abandoned.3 A Bexar County grand jury indicted petitioner in 1980 on a charge of capital murder, to wit, having fatally stabbed Hernandez while committing and attempting to commit a robbery of Hernandez.4 Petitioner was tried in 1982, and a Bexar County jury convicted and sentenced petitioner to death. Petitioner appealed but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed petitioner’s 1982 conviction and sentence on September 25, 1985.5 The United States Supreme Court denied petitioner’s petition for writ of certiorari on May 5, 1986.6 After petitioner unsuccessfully sought state habeas corpus relief, he filed a federal habeas petition which this Court denied. Petitioner appealed this Court’s denial of his federal habeas corpus petition and the Fifth Circuit reversed petitioner’s 1982 conviction on February 17, 1988.7 The United States Supreme Court denied the State’s certiorari petition on June 13,1988.8
On February 1, 1989, a Bexar County grand jury re-indicted petitioner in cause no. 89-CR-557 on a single Count of capital murder which contained three separate paragraphs alleging that the petitioner had murdered Jose M. Hernandez while in the course of committing and attempting to commit the predicate offenses of (1) robbing Hernandez, (2) robbing Cynthia West, and (3) engaging in the aggravated'sexual assault of West.9 On June 6, 1989, the jury returned a verdict of guilty in petitioner’s second capital murder trial.10 On June 9, 1989, the same jury answered the two Texas special sentencing issues affirmatively and the state *481trial court imposed a sentence of death by lethal injection.11 Petitioner appealed but, in an unpublished opinion issued April 27,1994, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed petitioner’s 1989 conviction and death •sentence.12 The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on November 28, 1994.13
On November 29, 1994, petitioner filed his original state habeas corpus application, asserting some eight claims for relief.14 On February 15, 1995, petitioner filed his first amended state habeas corpus application in which he asserted the same grounds for relief he had urged originally, and added two new claims of error regarding the state trial court’s guilt-innocence phase jury instructions.15 On July 3, 1995, petitioner filed his second amended state habeas corpus application and asserted therein three additional claims for a total of thirteen claims for relief.16 The state trial court held an evidentiary hearing on petitioner’s state habeas claims on July 11 and 20, 1995, during which that court heard testimony from several members of petitioner’s family regarding petitioner’s deprived and abused childhood, heard extensive testimony from both of petitioner’s trial counsel regarding their investigations into the case against petitioner and their strategic *482decision-making before and during petitioner’s 1989 trial, and heard testimony from Dr. John C. Sparks and received extensive documentary evidence regarding the mental and intellectual capacity of Manuel Villanueva.17 In an Order issued August 22,1995, the state trial court concluded that there was no merit to any of the claims contained in petitioner’s second amended state habeas corpus application and recommended that state habeas relief be denied.18 On October 18, 1995, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied petitioner’s state habeas corpus application without written order.19
B. Procedural History
On October 23, 1995, petitioner filed his original petition for federal habeas corpus relief in this Court, together with separate motions requesting appointment of counsel, a stay of his then-impending execution, and leave to file an amended petition for federal habeas relief.20 In an Order issued that same date, this Court granted petitioner’s motion for stay of execution, appointed counsel to represent petitioner herein, and granted petitioner leave to file an amended federal habeas corpus petition.21 On February 20, 1996, petitioner filed his first amended federal habeas corpus petition and asserted therein thirteen claims for relief similar but not identical to those he had included in his second amended state habeas corpus application discussed above.22 On April 19, 1996, respondent filed his answer and motion for summary judgment in which he argued, among other things, that (1) nothing in the federal Constitution mandated that petitioner’s jury be given the opportunity to consider the life sentence received by Manuel Villanueva as a mitigating factor which warranted a life sentence for petitioner, (2) the jury instructions at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial did not foreclose the jury from giving adequate consideration to petitioner’s legitimate mitigating evidence, (3) several of petitioner’s complaints of alleged errors in the jury instructions raised new rules of law foreclosed by the non-retroactivity doctrine of Teague, (4) there was more than ample evidence introduced during the petitioner’s' 1989 trial to support the jury’s verdict at the punishment phase of that trial, and (5) petitioner’s trial counsel did not render ineffective assistance.23
Subsequently^ both parties filed supplemental pleadings and briefs addressing the applicability to this cause of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 [“AEDPA”].24
II. Inapplicability of the AEDPA
On April 24, 1996, the President signed into law the AEDPA,25 which radically altered the standard of review by this Court in federal habeas corpus proceedings filed by *483state prisoners pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. Section 2254.26 In the months thereafter, the Fifth Circuit held that the new standard of review provisions of the AEDPA governed federal court review of all federal habeas corpus petitions filed by state prisoners, including those petitions pending as of the effective date of that enactment.27 However, in Lindh v. Murphy,28 the Supreme Court held that the AEDPA does not apply to federal habeas corpus petitions filed prior to the effective date of that enactment. Thus the Fifth Circuit’s opinions holding the AED-PA applicable to federal habeas petitions filed prior to April 24, 1996 are no longer controlling authority for this Court. Because petitioner’s first amended habeas corpus petition in this cause was filed on February 20, 1996, prior to the effective date of the AED-PA, this Court must apply the pre-AEDPA standard of review to petitioner’s federal habeas claims herein.29
III. State Law Claims
A state prisoner seeking federal court review of .his conviction pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. Section 2254 must assert a violation of a federal constitutional right.30 Federal habeas corpus relief will not issue to correct errors of state constitutional, statutory, or procedural law, unless a federal issue is also presented.31 In the course of reviewing state criminal convictions in federal habeas corpus proceedings, a federal court does not sit as a super-state appellate court.32 The question before a federal habeas corpus court is not whether the state court correctly applied its own interpretation of state law; rather, the question is whether the petitioner’s federal constitutional rights were violated.33
When a federal district court reviews a state prisoner’s habeas petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 it must decide whether *484the petitioner is “in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States.” The court does not review a judgment, but the lawfulness of the petitioner’s custody simpliciter.34
Thus, the issue before this Court is not whether the Texas courts properly applied state-law principles during petitioner’s trial or when they affirmed petitioner’s conviction and sentence or denied petitioner’s state habeas corpus application; but whether petitioner’s federal constitutional rights have been violated in this case.
IV. The Evidence at Trial
Because so many of petitioner’s claims for federal habeas relief are highly fact-intensive and address either the impact of the state trial court’s jury instructions on the jury’s deliberations or the strategic decisions of petitioner’s trial counsel, a brief overview of the testimony and other evidence admitted during petitioner’s 1989 capital murder trial is necessary to place petitioner’s claims iii proper context.
A. The Guilt-Innocence Phase of Trial
Cynthia West testified that (1) on August 3, 1979, she was 19 years old, (2) the decedent Joey Hernandez picked her up in his car for a date that evening and they went to a drive-in movie and then drove various places before arriving in the well-lit parking lot at Espada Park in the early morning hours of August 4, 1979, (3). when they arrived, there was four, or five other vehicles also parked in the lot, (4) shortly after they parked, another vehicle drove up behind Joey’s car and parked, (5) the petitioner then knocked on Joey’s window and asked for some oil for his car, (6) when Joey told the petitioner that, he had none, the petitioner left and drove off, (7) shortly thereafter the other vehicles parked near Joey’s car left the parking lot, (8) a short time later, four persons, consisting of the petitioner, Manuel Villanueva, and two younger Hispanic males, walked up to the driver’s side of Joey’s ear and knocked on the window, (9) the windows of Joey’s vehicle were rolled down about a quarter of the way and both doors were locked, (10) the petitioner asked Joey to take him to get some gas, (11) Cynthia noticed a knife in Villanueva’s hand, (12) when Joey said that he was not going to take them anywhere because he had seen the knife in Villanueva’s hand, Villanueva replied “What knife? I don’t have a knife,” (13) Joey started to place his hand on the ignition but someone stuck a hand through the window • and struck Joey hard on the left side of his face, (14) the assailants then unlocked Joey’s door and the petitioner struck Joey on the left side and the head with a tire tool, (15) the petitioner then repeatedly jabbed Joey with the tire tool while Villanueva stabbed Joey’s head and left side with a pocket knife, (16) while the petitioner and Villanueva continued to assault Joey, the other two assailants came around to the passenger side of the car, unlocked the door, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to the rear of the car by the trunk, (17) when she got to the back of the car, the petitioner grabbed her left arm at the wrist and said to her ‘You better run, you. bitch,” (18) the petitioner then pulled her along at a brisk pace, (19) she was unable to match the petitioner’s speed because of her high heels and attempted to tell the petitioner that she was asthmatic and pregnant, (20) the petitioner directed her to take off her shoes, threatened her with the tire tool which he still held in his hand, and told her ‘You better run, you bitch or I’m going to do the same shit to you I just did to [Joey],” (21) she was frightened and did not fight back, (22) they ran across the street and the petitioner shoved her down, (23) the petitioner placed his hand first on her stomach and then over her mouth, stuck the tire tool into the ground just inches from her head, and told her that she had better not scream, (24) she saw another vehicle that looked like Joey’s vehicle drive over to where the petitioner’s vehicle was parked, (25) the petitioner then pulled her up and dragged her through a brushy area while her other assailants pushed her from behind, (26) she fell on her stomach and the petitioner said to her ‘You better turn over, you fucking bitch,” (27) when she refused to turn over, the petitioner physically turned her over, took off *485her watch, necklace, and cross, and then undressed her, (28) the petitioner then unripped his pants and, while others held her arms, the petitioner raped her, (29) at one point while he was raping her, the petitioner told her “you better start pumping,” (30) she did not comply with that directive, (31) once the petitioner got off her, Villanueva raped her, (32) she could smell the “terrible” odor of paint on Villanueva’s breath when he attempted to Mss her while he was raping her, (33) when Villanueva finished, a third assailant, the youngest one who had pulled her from Joey’s car, raped her while Villanueva stood by and watched, (34) the petitioner then spoke in Spanish to the other assailants, saying something to the effect “Come on, let’s go,” (35) the four assailants then got into the two cars and drove off, (36) she dressed and went back to the parking lot, where she found Joey laying face down in a pool of blood, (37) she yelled at him but he did not answer, (38) she flagged down a uniformed police officer who was riding a motorcycle, (39) an EMS unit arrived at the scene but did not take Joey’s body, (40) she described her assailants to the police officers who arrived shortly thereafter, (41) police officers brought three Hispanic youths to the crime scene but they were not her assailants, (42) a police officer took her to the hospital for a rape exam, (43) she gave a formal written statement to the police, (44) a few days later on August 7, 1979, she picked the petitioner and Manuel Villanueva out of separate lineups, (45) she recognized police photographs of herself taken shortly after the assault upon her which showed that she had suffered scratches to her neck, back, right hip, right side, right arm, and left arm, (46) she never agreed to have sexual relations with any of her assailants, (47) she never consented to give the petitioner any of the property he took from her, (48) at all times relevant to the sexual assault upon her and the assault upon Joey, she was in fear for her life, and (49) she got a clear look at the petitioner’s face both of the times that he approached Joey’s car and while the petitioner was dragging her through the bushes and raping her.35
Other testimony at the guilt-innocence phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial revealed that (1) the police officers who responded to the call regarding the murder and rape found Cynthia West to be obviously upset but coherent,36 (2) the night of the rape and murder, CyntMa took the police to the place where she had been raped and gave the police a very general description of her assailants,37 (3) based on that description, the police stopped a group of young HispaMc males and took them to a show up at the crime scene but CyntMa was certam that none of that group were among her assailants,38 (4) police found the knob from one of the door locks on Joey’s car lymg near Joey’s body,39 (5) the police also recovered a beer can contaming spray enamel paint near Joey’s body and a tire tool near the area where Cynthia West had been raped,40 (6) on August 4,1979, the police responded to a call about an abandoned vehicle located just a block and a half from Villanueva’s residence and a short distance from the residence of the petitioner’s family,41 (7) the abandoned vehicle was Joey’s, bore traces of blood and the distinctive odor of spray paint, and was missmg its hub caps,42 (8) Villanueva was a *486known abuser of spray paint,43 (9) police later recovered Cynthia and Joey’s watches from members of Villanueva’s family,44 (10) police recovered from members of Villanueva’s family two cases of eight-track cassette tapes that had been in Joey’s car prior his murder45 (11) police recovered Joey’s wallet from one of Villanueva’s neighbors who testified that Villanueva had given it to him and that he had seen Villanueva with the wallet and eight-track cassette boxes the date of the murder,46 (12) when the police finally found Villanueva at home at his residence, Villanueva exited the residence, dropped a pocket knife, and made no effort to pick up the knife,47 (13) Villanueva’s mother picked up the knife and gave it to police when they requested it,48 (14) the knife in question could have caused the fatal wound to Joey Hernandez,49 (15) efforts to match the finger prints taken from Joey’s vehicle proved fruitless when none of the 36 prints lifted from the vehicle proved to be sufficiently legible for that purpose,50 and (16) the blood samples taken from Joey’s vehicle, the blood on Villanueva’s knife, and the semen samples taken during Cynthia West’s rape exam each proved to be of insufficient quantity for purposes of typing and matching.51
The medical examiner who performed the autopsy of Joey Hernandez testified that (1) external examination of Joey’s body revealed that Joey had suffered multiple lacerations to the head and multiple stab wounds, (2) Joey’s lacerations were located below the left eye brow, on the left cheek bone below the eye, on the left middle jaw, and across the bridge of the nose, (3) the latter laceration involved a fracture to both the bone and cartilage tissue of the nose, (4) Joey’s stab wounds included wounds to the back of the head behind the left ear, the muscles of the neck where they insert into the clavicle, the iliac crest on the left hip bone, and behind the left knee, (5) Joey also sustained a superficial bruise to the right cheek bone, (6) internal examination revealed that one of the stab wounds penetrated into Joey’s trachea and another had cut three quarters of the way through Joey’s spinal cord between the first and second cervical vertebrae, (7) the spinal cord injury was very similar to the type of injury inflicted at the end of a bull fight and had caused almost instantaneous death, (8) either of the blades on the pocket knife which Villanueva had dropped when confronted by police could have caused the penetrating stab wound that all but severed Joey’s spinal cord, (9) the pain caused by the blow which broke and lacerated Joey’s nose would have rendered him incapacitated even if it did not render him unconscious, (10) the lacerations to Joey’s body were consistent with the type of injuries caused by blows from a blunt instrument like a tire tool, (11) Joey was not intoxicated at the time of his death, (12) the precise sequence of the blows and stab wounds to Joey’s body could not be ascertained, (13) the injuries to Joey’s face could have been caused by his face and head being forcibly shoved against the steering wheel of a motor vehicle, and (14) while there were no bruises or fractures to Joey’s ribs, side, or thighs noted, he did suffer a small laceration to his left shoulder.52
*487The evidence at the guilt-innocence phase-of petitioner’s 1989 trial also established that (1) the petitioner was booked into the Bexar County Jail on August 6,1979 on a charge of capital murder and (2) the petitioner escaped from the fourth floor of the Bexar County Jail on or about September 27, 1980 by climbing down a rope made from sheets and mattress covers.53
The defense offered the testimony of petitioner’s three sisters, i.e., Aurelia Gomez, Maria Alma Herrera, and Nancy Cordova, that the petitioner had been baby-sitting for one of his sisters on the night in question.54 Two of the petitioner’s sisters admitted during cross-examination, however, that they had never previously testified regarding this new alibi evidence and the other sister admitted that, while she had testified at petitioner’s first trial, she had not presented all aspects of her alibi testimony at petitioner’s first trial.55
On June 6, 1989, after hearing closing arguments from both sides, the petitioner’s jury retired to deliberate petitioner’s guilt and returned its guilty verdict later that same date.
B. Punishment Phase of Trial
The evidence admitted during the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 capital murder trial included testimony regarding numerous instances of illegal and violent conduct by the petitioner, both inside and out of prison. More specifically, (1) two ju~ venile probation officers and three police officers each testified that petitioner’s reputation in the community for being peaceful and law-abiding was bad,56 (2) another police officer testified that, on May 25, 1979, he arrested the petitioner for -unlawfully carrying a loaded handgun onto a licensed premises and the gun was later determined to have been stolen from Florida,57 (3) a court bailiff testified that, on January 20, 1982, while the petitioner was in custody, he discovered a handcuff key in the petitioner’s pants pocket during a routine search of petitioner’s person at the Bexar County courthouse,58 (4) a Texas Department of Corrections [“TDC”] officer testified that, during a routine shakedown of cells on December 18, 1984, the petitioner took a five-to-six inch homemade knife out of his pocket and attempted to pass the knife to another inmate,59 (5) another TDC officer testified that, on November 13, 1985, he discovered eleven marijuana cigarettes during a shakedown of the petitioner’s cell and that the petitioner later threatened him,60 (6) another TDC officer testified that, on January 24, 1986, the petitioner had refused to comply with a routine strip search directive and had grabbed a belt and dared officers to search him until a lieutenant arrived on the scene,61 (7) another TDC officer testified that, on November-22, 1988, the petitioner climbed a fence separating recreational areas at a TDC facility and received a packet of papers that *488turned out to be illegal betting slips,62 and (8) another TDC officer testified that, on December 18, 1988, the petitioner spat directly in his face and demanded to see a ranking officer.63 The prosecution also introduced documents reflecting that the petitioner had been convicted (1) pursuant to a plea of nolo contendere in 1978 of the offense of “assault bodily injury,” (2) pursuant to a guilty plea in April, 1982 of the felony offense of escape, and (3) pursuant to a guilty plea in April, 1982 of the felony offense of “robbery — bodily injury.”64
The prosecution’s strongest evidence at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 capital murder trial related to petitioner’s convictions in Florida for offenses committed after the petitioner’s escape from the Bexar County Jail, while the petitioner remained a fugitive from justice. A finger print examiner testified that the petitioner’s finger prints matched those on a Florida pen packet indicating that the petitioner had been convicted in that state on two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of sexual battery.65 A former deputy Sheriff from Florida testified that (1) when he and other law enforcement officials went to a labor camp to investigate a reported rape the evening before, the petitioner fled on foot and led them on a chase into a heavily wooded area, (2) they were forced to employ bloodhounds and helicopters to search for the petitioner, (3) when they finally apprehended the petitioner he pretended not to understand English, and (4) the petitioner later pleaded guilty to two eounts of sexual battery and two counts of aggravated assault on April 9, 1981.66 A Florida Sheriff testified that (1) the petitioner was booked into a count jail in Florida on January 27, 1981, (2) they moved the petitioner to a new cell by himself on January 29, 1981, (3) on February 15, 1981, they received a tip from another inmate, searched petitioner’s cell, and found that the locking mechanism on petitioner’s cell door had been almost completely cut through, and (4) a subsequent search of the same cell disclosed hidden saw blades.67
The most chilling testimony at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 capital murder trial came from the victim of petitioner’s sexual assaults, who testified that (1) on January 26, 1981 while she was driving home from a night class, she heard and felt two short bursts of gun fire from another car driven by the petitioner strike her vehicle, (2) the petitioner then twice rammed his vehicle into her car and forced her to pull over, (3) the petitioner then pointed a gun at her face and directed her to open her door, (4) the petitioner got in her car and forced her into the passenger seat, • telling her that she should be still or he would kill her, (5) the petitioner waved off some other vehicles that slowed down, moved'his car off the road, and returned to her car, (6) the petitioner then directed her to move into the back seat of her vehicle, removed her glasses, and directed her to fondle him while he asked her many personal questions, (7) the petitioner then drove to a secluded area, directed her to remove her pants and exit her car, (8) the petitioner led her to a grassy area and directed her to undress completely, (9) the petitioner then repeatedly raped her vaginally, raped her anally, and made her give him her jewelry, (10) throughout her ordeal, the petitioner continuously asked her questions, repeatedly called her a liar, told her not to look at his face, and threatened her, at one point telling her “No funny stuff or I’ll blow your brains out,” (11) at another point, the petitioner placed his gun against her head, asked her if she could tell him the license plate number of his car, and told her that his car was stolen, (12) she attempted to answer his questions in the hope that it would calm him down, (13) after he finished raping her, the petitioner cleaned himself with her shirt, threw her shirt at her, and told her to put it on, (14) the petitioner then took her back to *489her ear, forced her to lay on the floor board, and drove her back to the location of his car, (15) the petitioner wiped his prints off her car and told her to wait there until she heard him beep his horn, (16) the petitioner drove away but never beeped his horn, (17) she drove to a neighbor and called the police, (18) she was examined at a hospital and when that examination showed that the petitioner had infected her with gonorrhea, she had to return to the hospital to receive antibiotic treatment, (19) law enforcement authorities were able to lift the petitioner’s finger prints off of her glasses, and (20) the petitioner pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery and two counts of aggravated assault arising from the incident in question.68
The defense offered the brief testimony of petitioner’s accomplice Manuel Villanueva to the effect that he had been permitted to plead to the lesser offense of murder and to receive a life sentence69 and introduced into evidence a juvenile case report prepared when the petitioner was still a youth which outlined the horrible, squalid, family conditions in which the petitioner had grown up.70
The prosecution then called as a rebuttal witness Sam Ponder, the assistant Bexar County District Attoméy who had supervised Villanueva’s prosecution, who testified that (1) he concluded after reviewing the evidence and conferring with his co-prosecutor that Villanueva was not intellectually capable of original thought, Villanueva was a follower, and that Villanueva had acted at the petitioner’s direction in connection with the murder, (2) he believed that Villanueva was mentally retarded, and (3) while a jury had found Villanueva competent to stand trial, he did not personally believe the death penalty was appropriate for someone of Villanueva’s diminished capacity.71
V. Punishment Phase Jury Instructions
In his interrelated first and third claims for federal habeas relief, the petitioner ar*490gues that the jury instructions at the punishment phase of his 1989 capital murder trial effectively prevented, the jury from adequately considering and giving effect to the petitioner’s mitigating evidence of his youth at the time of the offense, his troubled childhood, his traumatic family history, his minority race, his functional illiteracy, his “nontriggerman” status, and the life sentence received by Villanueva.72
On June 9, 1989, petitioner’s jury heard the testimony of Sam Ponder, who had prosecuted Manuel Villanueva for his participation in petitioner’s crime, heard closing arguments from both sides, retired to render its verdict, and returned its verdict at the punishment phase of trial later that same date. '
A. A Brief History of Mitigating Evidence
A summary of relevant Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit case law addressing the constitutional requirements regarding the consideration of mitigating evidence in capital sentencing proceedings may provide a proper context for analysis of petitioner’s complaints about his punishment phase jury instructions.
1. Supreme Court Precedent
In Woodson v. North Carolina,73 a Supreme Court plurality struck down as unconstitutional a mandatory death penalty scheme, in part, because it did not allow the sentencing authority to consider the character and record of the individual offender and the circumstances of the particular offense.74 However, the Supreme Court, plurality opinion in Woodson did not identify those aspects of a defendant’s character or offense that it deemed relevant as mitigating evidence. Acknowledging this omission, in Lockett v. Ohio,75 a different plurality of the Supreme Court emphasized the importance of individualized sentencing in criminal cases and held that a state judge had violated a capital murder defendant’s constitutional rights by refusing to consider evidence that the defendant (1) was only 21 at the time of the offense, (2) was successfully participating in a drug treatment program, (3) had a low-average or average intelligence and was not suffering from any mental deficiency, (4) had a prior criminal record that included a few minor offenses but no major crimes as a juvenile or adult, and (5) showed a favorable prognosis for rehabilitation.76 The Supreme Court plurality in Lockett declared that the Eighth Amendment requires a capital sentencing authority be permitted to consider as mitigating factors, any evidence regarding the defendant’s character or record or any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence of less than death.77
In Eddings v. Oklahoma,78 a Supreme Court majority adopted the holding in Lockett and overturned the death sentence of a defendant because the sentencing judge had expressly refused to consider mitigating evidence showing that the defendant (1) had been raised without proper guidance following his parents’ divorce when he was only 5, (2) had lived with virtually no supervision from his alcoholic and promiscuous mother until he reached 14, when he was sent to live with his physically abusive father, (3) was emotionally disturbed and exhibited a mental and emotional development several years below his age, (4) was categorized by a psychologist as a sociopath and antisocial but given a thirty percent chance of growing out of that *491condition, (5) was identified as being a potential prospect for rehabilitation with proper therapy for 15-20 years, and (6) probably did not know what he was doing when he fired the fatal shot and, with proper therapy, would not be a threat to society.79 The Supreme Court majority in Eddings expressly held that the foregoing evidence of the defendant’s difficult family history and emotional disturbance was typical of the type of relevant mitigating evidence which the Eighth Amendment compels a capital sentencing authority to consider before imposing the death penalty.80
In Skipper v. South Carolina,81 the Supreme Court overturned a death sentence because the state trial court had excluded what the Supreme Court held to be relevant, mitigating evidence that the defendant had been a well-behaved and disciplined prisoner, to wit, testimony establishing that the defendant (1) had conducted himself well while in jail awaiting trial, (2) had earned the equivalent of a high school diploma during a previous incarceration, (3) had made a good adjustment to prison life, and (4) planned to work while incarcerated to earn money for his family.82
In Hitchcock v. Dugger;83 the Supreme Court struck down a death sentence after concluding that the defendant’s sentencing jury had been- precluded form considering the defendant’s mitigating evidence that (1) as a child he had the habit of inhaling gasoline fumes, (2) he once passed out after doing so, (3) thereafter his mind tended to wander, (4) he had been one of seven children in a poor family that picked cotton for a living, (5) his father had died of cancer, (6) the defendant had been a fond and affectionate uncle to the children of his brother, (7) the defendant showed a potential for rehabilitation, and (8) he had voluntarily surrendered to authorities.84
In Mills v. Maryland>85 the Supreme Court struck down a death sentence imposed by a jury that had been given both a confusing and ambiguous set of instructions and a verdict form which could have been construed to bar the jury’s consideration of the defendant’s mitigating evidence of his youth, mental infirmity, lack of future dangerousness, and State’s failure to attempt to rehabilitate him during his prior incarceration unless the jury agreed unanimously on each mitigating factor.86
In McKoy v. North Carolina,87 the Supreme Court struck down a state requirement that a jury unanimously agree before it could consider mitigating evidence, including the defendant’s evidence that he (1) suffered from mental impairments that diminished his ability to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law, (2) had borderline intellectual functioning and an IQ of 74, (3) committed his crime while under the influence of mental or emotional disturbance, (4) was 65 at the time of the offense, (5) had for several decades exhibited signs of mental or emotional disturbance that went untreated, (6) suffered from a mental or emotions disturbance that was aggravated by his poor physical health, and (7) had an impaired ability to remember of the events of the day of his offense.88
*492In Penry v. Lynaugh,89 decided June 26, 1989, less than three weeks after the petitioner’s trial ended, the Supreme Court held the Texas capital sentencing scheme unconstitutional as applied to a defendant who had introduced evidence of his abusive childhood and mental retardation.90 More specifically, Penry had introduced evidence during his trial which established that (1) he suffered from organic brain disorder and mental retardation, (2) these conditions made it impossible for him to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the law, and (3) when he was child, his mother frequently beat him over the head with a belt and routinely locked him in his room without access to the toilet for long periods of time.91 The Supreme Court subsequently explained that it considered the foregoing evidence to be “mitigating” because it indicated that the defendant suffered from a diminished ability to control his impulses or to evaluate the consequences of his conduct and therefore reduced his moral culpability.92 The Supreme Court majority concluded in Penry that, in answering the three special issues submitted to it during the punishment phase of trial,93 Penr/s Texas jury had not been able to consider and give effect to all of Penry’s mitigating evidence “without any jury instructions on mitigating evidence.”94 Therefore, the Supreme Court concluded that Penry was constitutionally entitled to further instructions informing the jury that it could consider and give effect to his evidence by declining to impose the death penalty.95
In several subsequent decisions, however, the Supreme Court has circumscribed its holding in Penry.96 In Graham v. Collins, *493the Supreme Court held that its opinion in Penry should not be construed as broadly suggesting the invalidity of the Texas special issue framework and held that Graham’s sentencing jury could give adequate consideration, without the necessity of a Penry instruction, to Graham’s mitigating evidence of his youth, good character traits, efforts to be a responsible father, nonviolent and religious nature, and unstable family background.97 In Johnson v. Texas,98 the Supreme Court upheld a Texas prisoner’s capital murder conviction and death sentence against a claim that the former Texas capital murder statute precluded the jury from considering and giving effect to mitigating evidence of the defendant’s youth at the time of his offense.99 Thus, while the Supreme Court has emphasized in its post-Penry opinions the broad scope of potentially mitigating evidence that a Texas capital sentencing jury may adequately consider without the necessity of a Penry instruction, that court has taken great pains not to require explicit consideration of all evidence that might arguably possess some potential mitigating value.100
Contrary to the suggestions implicit in petitioner’s first and third claims for relief herein, neither before nor after Penry has the Supreme Court ever, recognized any broad-ranging Eighth Amendment right to either (1) compel a capital sentencing authority to consider any and all manner of evidence which a capital murder defendant considers “relevant” in an abstract sense when deciding whether to impose the death penalty or (2) require the sentencing authority to consider an emotional appeal based on pur-, portedly mitigating evidence. In Lockett v. Ohio, the Supreme Court plurality expressly acknowledged the “traditional authority of a court to exclude, as irrelevant, evidence not bearing, on the defendant’s character, prior record, or the circumstances of his offense.” 101 In Skipper v. South Carolina, the Supreme Court majority specifically disavowed the suggestion that “all facets of the defendant’s ability to adjust to prison life must be treated as relevant and potentially mitigating.”102 In California v. Brown,103 a Supreme Court plurality upheld as eonstitu*494tional a capital sentencing jury instruction which directed the jury not to be swayed by mere sentiment, conjecture, sympathy, passion, prejudice, public opinion, or public feeling.104 In Franklin v. Lynaugh105 a majority of Supreme Court justices agreed that (1) a capital sentencing authority is not constitutionally required to give consideration to “residual doubts” about the defendant’s innocence because such matters are relevant to neither the defendant’s character or record nor the circumstances of the offense106 and (2) the Texas capital sentencing special issue regarding future dangerousness affords the sentencing jury adequate opportunity to consider a capital murder defendant’s evidence of his good behavior in prison.107 In Baffle v. Parks, the Supreme Court upheld as constitutional a jury instruction directing a capital sentencing jury to “avoid any influence of sympathy, sentiment, passion, prejudice, or other arbitrary factor when imposing sentence” 108 and held inconsistent with its prior opinions an argument that the Constitution requires the jury be allowed to consider and give effect to emotions that are based on mitigating evidence.109 In Tuilaepa v. California,110 the Supreme Court distinguished the two aspects of the capital decision-making process, i.e., the eligibility decision and the selection process, and emphasized that, while both inquiries necessarily involve resolution of issues that bear a factual nexus to the crime, the selection process must also focus on the character and record of the defendant.111 In Buchanan v. Angelone,112 *495the Supreme Court reaffirmed the vitality of the two-stage Tuilaepa analysis and rejected an argument that the Constitution mandates jury instructions at the selection stage of a capital sentencing proceeding regarding the nature of mitigating evidence or the manner in which the sentencing jury is to consider specific statutorily-defined mitigating factors, such as the defendant’s age, lack of prior criminal activity, extreme emotional or mental disturbance, and significantly impaired capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct.113
The first part of the Tuilaepa analysis, i.e., the eligibility decision, was discussed by the Supreme Court in Loving v. United States114
The Eighth Amendment requires, among other things, that “a. capital sentencing- scheme must ‘genuinely narrow the class of persons eligible for the death penalty and must reasonably justify the imposition of a more severe sentence on the defendant compared to others found guilty of murder.’ ” Some schemes accomplish that narrowing by requiring that the sentencer find at least one aggravating circumstance. The narrowing may also be achieved, however, in the definition of the capital offense, in which circumstance the requirement that the sentencer “find the existence of the aggravating circumstance in addition is no part of the constitutionally required narrowing process.”115
Under the Texas capital sentencing scheme, this constitutionally-mandated narrowing function is performed at the guilt-innocence phase of trial.116 It is in the selection phase that a sentencer may not be precluded from considering, and may not refuse to consider, any constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence.117 Therefore, this Court’s analysis of the petitioner’s claims regarding mitigating evidence must focus on the second aspect of the Tuilaepa analysis.
2. Treatment of Penny Mitigating Evidence
In the wake of Penny and the other Supreme Court opinions summarized above, both the Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit have addressed a wide range of constitutional challenges to individual applications of the Texas capital sentencing scheme. From those opinions, it is possible to discern a coherent approach to the subject of mitigating evidence. The Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit have each emphasized that a jury in a capital murder trial must be permitted to examine the defendant’s character and record, as well as the circumstances of the particular offense in determining whether to impose the death penalty:
*496[I]n capital cases the fundamental respect for humanity underlying the Eighth Amendment requires consideration of the character and record of the individual offender and the circumstances of the particular offense as a constitutionally indispensable part of the process of inflicting the penalty of death.118
Therefore, a sentencing jury in a capital murder trial may not be prevented from considering any mitigating evidence presented by the defendant which relates to the defendant’s character or record or the circumstances of the offense.119 In other words, the jury at petitioner’s trial must have been afforded adequate opportunity to give effect to petitioner’s mitigating evidence of his character and background, as well as his evidence of the circumstances surrounding his offense. Probably because petitioner’s trial was completed in the weeks prior to the Supreme Court’s issuance of its opinion in Penry, the state trial court did not give petitioner’s jury any special instructions regarding mitigating evidence at the punishment phase of trial such as the one required in Penry.120 The question before the Court is whether the absence of such an instruction in petitioner’s case violated constitutional principles, i.e., effectively deprived petitioner’s jury of the opportunity to consider his constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence.
The Fifth Circuit has held that a Penry instruction is only required in those instances in which the major mitigating thrust of the evidence is substantially beyond the scope of all the special issues under the Texas capital sentencing scheme.121 The Fifth Circuit has recognized that a wide range of potentially mitigating evidence can be considered within the scope of the Texas capital sentencing special issues mthout the necessity for a Penry instruction.122 The *497Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit have each held that the Texas capital sentencing special issues allow adequate consideration of the mitigating effects of evidence of a defendant’s youth so as to negate the necessity for a Penry instruction on such evidence.123 Likewise, the Fifth Circuit has repeatedly held that the Texas capital sentencing special issues are sufficiently broad to permit adequate consideration of evidence the accused was voluntarily intoxicated at the time of his offense.124 The Fifth Circuit has also re*498peatedly held that a Texas capital sentencing jury may give adequate consideration to evidence showing a defendant neither fired the fatal shot nor delivered the fatal blow without the necessity of a Penry instruction.125 Thus, evidence of such matters does not require any special jury instructions; Texas sentencing juries can adequately consider these types of evidence without the necessity of supplemental jury instructions like those mandated by Penry.
Consistent with the Supreme Court opinions summarized above, the Fifth Circuit has held that, to constitute relevant mitigating evidence for Penry purposes, evidence of a defendant’s background and character must relate to, and diminish the defendant’s moral culpability for the offense with which he is charged.126 Thus, the first inquiry in a Penry claim is whether the mitigating evidence is relevant, i.e., does the evidence implicate the basic concern of Penry that defendants who commit criminal acts that are attributable to a disadvantaged background, or to emotional and mental problems, may be less culpable then defendants who have no such excuse.127 In order to meet this rele*499vanee standard, the evidence must show (1) a uniquely severe permanent handicap with which the defendant is burdened through no fault of his own and (2) that the criminal act was attributable to this severe permanent condition.128 A properly preserved Penry claim will only prove meritorious if two requirements are met: first, the evidence proffered at trial must actually be “mitigating”, i.e., it must relate to the defendant’s character or background or to the circumstances of the offense and be sufficient to lead a reasonable juror to impose a penalty less than death; and second, the evidence proffered at trial must have been beyond the “effective reach” of the jury, i.e., there must be a reasonable likelihood that the jury applied the Texas special issues in a way that prevented consideration of the constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence.129 A failure to satisfy either prong of this analysis renders a Penry claim meritless. Furthermore, Penry does not require that a sentencer be able to give effect to a defendant’s mitigating evidence in whatever manner or to whatever extent the defendant desires.130 A jury need only be provided one fair vehicle for considering mitigating evidence.131 The State can “structure” the jury’s consideration of mitigating evidence, so long as it does not prevent -the jury from giving effect to any constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence.132
3. Synthesis
From careful scrutiny of the foregoing Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit opinions, a coherent approach to the treatment of mitigating evidence in Texas capital sentencing proceedings emerges. In mathematical terms, the universe of evidence relevant at a capital murder trial includes a set of “constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence,” i.e., evidence which relates to the defendant’s character or background or to the circumstances of the offense and is sufficient to lead a reasonable juror to impose a penalty less than death. The Fifth Circuit has defined this type of evidence as that which establishes that (1) the defendant suffered from a uniquely severe permanent handicap with which the defendant is burdened through no fault of his own and (2) the defendant’s criminal act was. attributable to this severe permanent condition.133 Within this set of constitutionally relevant mitigating *500evidence there exists of subset of Penry mitigating evidence, i.e., mitigating evidence that cannot be treated as “mitigating,” i.e:, as warranting a penalty less than death, without additional instructions or issues being submitted to the sentencing jury to explain how that evidence may be given mitigating effect. Essentially, what the Fifth Circuit has done in its many opinions discussing Penry mitigating evidence is to define such evidence as constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence which cannot be given adequate mitigating consideration by a Texas capital sentencing jury faced solely with the statutory Texas special sentencing issues.
Most of the Fifth Circuit opinions outlined above addressed unsuccessful arguments by capital murder defendants to the effect that a wide variety of evidence concerning then-backgrounds or the circumstances of their crimes fell within this narrow subset of Penry evidence. Most significant for purposes of this Court’s analysis of petitioner’s claims relating to his punishment phase jury instructions is the narrow way in which the Fifth Circuit has defined “constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence.” The Fifth Circuit has defined “constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence” as evidence which shows (1) the defendant suffers from a uniquely severe permanent handicap with which the defendant is burdened through no fault of his own and (2) the defendant’s criminal act was attributable to this severe permanent condition.134 With these principles in mind, this Court now turns to the petitioner’s first and third claims for relief herein.
B. Construing the 1989 Penalty Phase Jury Instructions
1. Quasi-Penry Claims
' a. Petitioner’s Youth and Family Background
Petitioner contends that the “non-law-of-parties” instruction included in the punishment phase jury instructions at his 1989 capital murder trial effectively precluded the jury from considering his purportedly mitigating evidence regarding his troubled childhood, youth, race, family problems, and purported illiteracy because the instruction in question focused the jury’s attention exclusively on the petitioner’s conduct at the time of his offense and in the future.135 However, none of this evidence required a Penry instruction. Thus, assuming arguendo that all of this evidence fell within the parameters of “constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence,” none of this mitigating evidence was outside the reach of the petitioner’s sentencing jury at the 1989 trial. Insofar as petitioner raises a Penry or quasi-Penry claim herein based upon the evidence of his troubled childhood, youth, race, family problems, and purported illiteracy, those claims do not warrant federal habeas relief. Petitioner’s sentencing jury could have adequately considered all of that evidence without the necessity for a Penry instruction.136
Furthermore, while petitioner did introduce evidence regarding his .youth, race, illiteracy, troubled childhood, arid deprived family background at the punishment phase of his 1989 capital murder trial, petitioner did not introduce any evidence linking any of that *501evidence to petitioner’s criminal conduct on August 4, 1979. Petitioner failed to show a “nexus” between- either his youth, race, illiteracy, deprived family background, or troubled childhood and his offense, i.e., that his criminal conduct was attributable to his troubled childhood and deprived family background.137 Thus, this evidence did not rise to the level of constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence, much less Penry mitigating evidence.138
b. Petitioner’s “Non-Triggerman” Status
Petitioner’s complaint that his sentencing jury was unable to adequately consider his evidence that Villanueva actually delivered the fatal stab wound to Joey Hernandez’s cervical vertebrae was also well within the reach of petitioner’s 1989 capital sentencing jury.139 A Texas capital sentencing jury may give adequate consideration to evidence showing a defendant neither fired the fatal shot nor delivered the fatal blow *502without the necessity of a Penry instruction.140
c. Villanueva’s Life Sentence
Petitioner’s quasi-Penry complaint that the jury instructions at the pun: ishment phase of his 1989 capital murder trial precluded the jury from considering and giving mitigating effect to his evidence regarding the life sentence which Manuel Villanueva received for his role in the same criminal offense fails for a slightly different reason. Petitioner’s evidence regarding Villanueva’s life sentence did not constitute “constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence,” as defined by the Fifth Circuit. The parameters of constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence are limited to evidence that establishes (1) the defendant suffered from a uniquely severe permanent handicap with which the defendant is burdened through no fault of his own and (2) the defendant’s criminal act was attributable to this severe permanent condition.141 The happenstance that a different sentencing authority, or in Villanueva’s case a different prosecutor, chose to display mercy toward Villanueva based on the peculiarities of Villanueva’s own character, background, record, and role in the offense, bears no relevance to the propriety of the petitioner’s sentence.142 Villanueva’s life sentence does not establish or tend to establish either that (1) the petitioner suffered from a uniquely severe permanent handicap with which the petitioner was burdened through no fault of his own or (2) the petitioner’s criminal acts were attributable to this severe permanent condition.143 Villa*503nueva’s life sentence simply bears no relationship to the petitioner’s character or background or the circumstances of the crime.144 Likewise, it was a legal impossibility for petitioner’s August, 1979 crime to have been “attributable” to an event, i.e., the decision to allow Villanueva to plead guilty to ordinary murder and receive a life sentence, which occurred years after the petitioner’s offense. Evidence that does not bear on the defendant’s character, record, or crime may properly be excluded at the sentencing phase of a capital murder trial.145 The foregoing principles have long guided federal sentencing practice; a federal criminal defendant cannot rely upon the sentences imposed upon his co-defendants as a yardstick of his own.146 Therefore, petitioner’s evidence regarding Villanueva’s sentence could not furnish the basis for a constitutional claim because, even if the jury could not give mitigating effect to same, that evidence did not constitute “constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence.”
2. Temporal Limiting Instructions
However, petitioner’s complaint goes beyond Penry or quasi-Penry issues. He also complains that his sentencing jury could have construed his 1989 punishment phase jury instructions as precluding consideration of legitimate, constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence. More specifically, petitioner complains about the following language included in his 1989 punishment phase jury instructions:
You are instructed , that the law of parties, on which you were instructed at the first phase of trial, has no applicability to this phase of trial. In answering these special issues, you will consider only such evidence, if any, as you might believe relevant to the conduct, if any, of the defendant at the time of the offense, and to his future conduct.147
Petitioner argues that the phrase “at the time of the offense, and to his future conduct” could have been construed by his jury as precluding them from considering the evidence of petitioner’s youth, race, deprived family background, and troubled childhood when answering the special sentencing issues.
However, respondent points out that the state trial court included the following in*504struction on the next page of the punishment phase jury instructions:
You are further instructed that in determining each of these special issues you may take into consideration all of the evidence submitted to you in the fill trial of the case, that is, all of the evidence submitted to you in the trial of the first part of this case wherein you were called upon to determine the guilt or innocence of the defendant, and all of the evidence, if any, admitted before you in the second part of the trial wherein you are called upon to determine the special issues hereby submitted to you.148
The proper standard for reviewing a challenged jury instruction in the capital sentencing context is “whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury has applied the challenged instruction in a way that prevents the consideration of constitutionally relevant evidence.”149 This “reasonable likelihood” standard does not require the petitioner to prove that the jury “more likely than not” interpreted the challenged instruction in an impermissible way; however, the petitioner must demonstrate more than “only a possibility” of an impermissible interpretation.150 This Court must analyze the challenged jury charge within the context of the overall jury charge.151 “In evaluating the instructions, we do not engage in a technical parsing if this language of the instructions, but instead approach the instructions in the same way that the jury would — -with a ‘cpmmonsense understanding of the instructions in the light of all that has taken place at the trial.’ ”152
Assuming arguendo that all of the petitioner’s evidence regarding his youth, troubled childhood, minority race, family problems, purported illiteracy, co-defendant’s life sentence, and “non-triggerman” status qualified as constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence, petitioner’s construction of his punishment phase jury instructions does not satisfy this “reasonable likelihood” standard. It is not reasonably likely that the petitioner’s 1989 jurors construed the language directing them to focus on the defendant’s conduct as prohibiting them from considering the evidence of the petitioner’s difficult childhood and deprived family background.
The Supreme Court recently emphasized that a state trial court’s instruction that a sentencing jury consider “all the evidence” affords the jury an opportunity to consider mitigating evidence and that the Constitution does not require specific instructions guiding the jury at the selection stage of a capital murder trial on either the concept of mitigation or the nature of statutorily defined mitigating factors.153
In two recent opinions, the Fifth Circuit held that the giving of a jury instruction pursuant to Section 8.04(b) of the Texas Penal Code at the punishment phase of a capital murder trial did not deprive the defendant of his constitutional rights. In each of those eases, the Fifth Circuit addressed claims that a pair of Texas capital murder defendants’ constitutional rights were violated when their state trial courts specifically instructed their juries at the punishment phase of trial, pursuant to Section 8.04(b) of the Texas Penal Code, that those juries could consider evidence of the defendants’ voluntary intoxication only when it rose to the level of temporary insanity. The Fifth Cir*505cuit concluded in each case that the general instruction given at the punishment phase of trial directing the jury to consider “all of the evidence” introduced at trial effectively negated any inference from the Section 8.04(b) instruction that might have caused either jury to belief itself prohibited from considering evidence of voluntary intoxication that did not rise to the level of temporary insanity.154 The Fifth Circuit’s broad interpretation of a trial court instruction that a capital sentencing jury consider “all the evidence” introduced at trial is binding upon • this Court.155 Like the instructions directing the jury to consider “all the evidence” that cured the restrictive language in Lauti and Drinkard and satisfied the Supreme Court. in Buchanan, similar language in petitioner’s 1989 punishment phase jury instructions more than off set any restrictive inference that could have been read into the non-law-of-parties instruction given at the punishment phase of the petitioner’s 1989 trial.
Moreover, unlike the specific restrictions on the jury’s ability to consider evidence of voluntary intoxication in each of those cases, the petitioner’s 1989 jury was never specifically directed that it could not consider any identifiable mitigating evidence. Nor is petitioner’s suggested construction of his 1989 punishment phase jury instructions “reasonably likely.” The context in which the state court advised the petitioner’s 1989 jury that it should focus on the defendant’s conduct “at the time of the offense, and to his future conduct” was an explanation that the law of parties, on which petitioner’s 1989 jury had been properly instructed at the- guilt-innocence phase of trial, was inapplicable at the punishment phase of trial. The language in question properly instructed petitioner’s jury that it had to focus exclusively on the defendant’s conduct, rather the conduct of defendant’s accomplices or others, in answering the special sentencing issues. The language in question focused the jury’s attention primarily on the defendant’s conduct, as opposed to the conduct of others, and cannot reasonably be construed as restricting the scope of mitigating evidence which the jury was free to consider at the punishment phase of the petitioner’s 1989 trial. In their closing arguments at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial, petitioner’s counsel emphasized the bleak, hopeless environment in which the petitioner had been raised and argued that the evidence regarding the horrific conditions in which the petitioner was raised warranted the dispensation of mercy toward petitioner.156 Given the context in which the language in question was presented to the jury and the tenor and content of defense counsel’s closing jury arguments at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 capital murder trial, no reasonable juror could have construed the instructions as forbidding jury consideration of any legitimate constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence. For the foregoing reasons neither the petitioner’s first nor his third claims warrants federal habeas relief in this cause.
VI. Guilt-Innocence Phase Jury Instructions
In his eighth ground for relief, petitioner argues that the state trial court erred in submitting the jury instructions at the guilt-innocence phase of petitioner’s 1989 capital murder trial in such a way as to *506suggest that the petitioner was on trial on three separate Counts of capital murder.157 As explained above, petitioner’s indictment charged him with committing the capital murder of Joey Hernandez while in the course of committing and attempting to commit (1) the robbery of Hernandez, (2) the robbery of Cynthia West, and (3) the sexual assault of West. Respondent argues that acceptance of the argument suggested by petitioner would violate the non-retroactivity doctrine recognized in Teague v. Lane.158
Before addressing respondent’s Teague argument, this Court notes that a majority of the Supreme Court rejected the argument implicit in petitioner’s eighth claims herein in Schad v. Arizona.159 In Schad, the Supreme Court recognized the general rule that a single count may include allegations that the defendant committed the offense by one or more specified means and held that there is no constitutional requirement that the jury reach unanimity on the preliminary factual issues which underlie the verdict.160 If, as the Supreme Court majority held in Schad, there is no constitutional requirement that a capital murder jury reach unanimity with regard to any of several specific means by which such a crime may be committed when the indictment alleges multiple theories of the offense, then the premise underlying petitioner’s eighth claim for relief vanishes. As explained in Schad, the prosecution properly indicted petitioner on a single count of capital murder and alleged and attempted to prove several different factual theories by which petitioner could have committed that single offense.161 Hence, petitioner’s complaint that the guilt-innocence phase jury charge gave “undue prominence” to the three separate theories of his offense is non sequitur.162 It is not within the province of this Court to either disregard or overrule the Supreme Court majority’s clear holding in Schad.
Also of significance is the fact that petitioner’s trial counsel did not raise a specific argument challenging the guilt-innocence phase jury instructions on this point.163 “It is the rare case in which an improper instruction will justify reversal of a criminal conviction when no objection has been made in the trial court.”164 The fact that a jury instruction was incorrect under state law is not a basis for federal habeas relief.165 Rather, the question is whether the allegedly ailing instruction by itself so infected the entire trial that the resulting conviction violates due process166 “An omission, or an *507incomplete instruction, is less likely to be prejudicial than a misstatement of law.”167 A federal court may reverse a state court criminal conviction based upon erroneous jury instructions only when the instructions in question render the entire trial fundamentally unfair.168
Having reviewed the entire transcript and Statement of Facts from the petitioner’s 1989 capital murder trial, this Court concludes that nothing in the guilt-innocence phase jury instructions rendered petitioner’s entire trial fundamentally unfair. Petitioner, was charged with a single Count of capital murder in an indictment that alleged three separate theories regarding how that offense was committed. The prosecution introduced evidence supporting each of those factual theories. Thus, it was incumbent upon the state trial court to properly instruct the jury on the law applicable to each of those factual theories. That is exactly what petitioner’s state trial court’s jury instructions did at the guilt-innocence phase of petitioner’s 1989 capital murder trial.
Moreover, respondent’s contention that petitioner’s eighth claim is foreclosed by the non-retroactivity doctrine of Teague is correct. Federal courts are generally barred from applying new constitutional rules of criminal procedure retroactively on collateral review.169 Under Teague, a “new rule” is one which was not dictated by precedent existing at the time the defendant’s conviction became final.170 Under this doctrine, unless reasonable jurists hearing the defendant’s claim at the time his conviction became final would have felt compelled by existing precedent to rule in his favor, a federal habeas court is barred from, doing so on collateral review.171 This non-retroactivity doctrine applies equally to a novel application of an old rule.172 On the date petitioner’s second capital murder conviction became final, i.e., on November 28, 1994,173 Schad was the law of the land. Petitioner has not identified any ease law in existence as of that date which mandates a result different from the one clearly mandated by Schad. Thus, the petitioner’s eighth claim is barred by Teague, foreclosed by the long-recognized principles discussed in Schad, and without merit from a constitutional perspective.
For each of the foregoing reasons, the petitioner’s eighth claim does not warrant federal habeas relief.
VII. The Law of Proportionality and Equal Protection Claims
In his ninth claim, petitioner argues that his sentence violates the law of proportionality, the Eighth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, and the common law Doctrine of Mandated Consistency because Villanueva received only a life sentence despite evidence showing that Villanueva, rather than the petitioner, aetual*508ly delivered the fatal blow to Joey Hernandez.174
A. Proportionality Claims
For various reasons, these arguments do not warrant federal habeas relief. First, the Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit have each held that there is no constitutional requirement for review of the proportionality of sentences in a State’s capital murder cases.175 Second, the Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized that capital sentencing must be a highly individualized process.176 Petitioner’s proposed rule would stand the principle of individualized sentencing on its head. Third, a co-defendant’s life sentence is not relevant in a capital sentencing proceeding.177 Fourth, “[i]n order to assess a death penalty under the Constitution, the state is only required to demonstrate ‘major participation in the felony committed, combined with a reckless indifference to human life.’ ”178 The prosecution proved much more than petitioner’s mere “major participation” in the murder of Joey Hernandez and petitioner’s “reckless indifference” to the life of Joey during petitioner’s 1989 capital murder trial.179 In view of the foregoing *509authorities, application of the law of proportionality in capital sentencing in the manner advocated by petitioner herein would necessarily require the adoption of a new rule and, therefore, is barred by the non-retroactivity doctrine of Teague.180
Insofar as proportionality analysis is constitutionally necessary with regard to the Texas capital sentencing scheme, that analysis is incorporated in the “eligibility decision” described in the Tuilaepa and Buchanan and is accomplished in the Texas capital sentencing scheme at the guilt-innocence phase of a trial because the Texas capital murder statute itself performs the constitutionally-mandated narrowing function.181 Therefore, no independent proportionality review of Texas capital murder sentences is constitutionally mandated.182
Furthermore, even if this Court disregards the Teague barrier and the other precedents outlined above, application of constitutional proportionality principles to petitioner’s case does not warrant federal habeas relief in this cause. Proportionality analysis involves an examination of (1) the gravity of the offense and the harshness of the penalty, including the harm caused or threatened to the victim or society and the culpability of the offender, (2) the sentence imposed on other criminals in the same jurisdiction, and (3) the sentence imposed for the commission of the same crime in other jurisdictions.183 Applying these principles, the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of a life sentence without parole imposed upon a first-time drug offender.184 The Fifth Circuit has upheld similar sentences under the Mississippi habitual offender statute for burglary defendants whose criminal records included previous armed robbery convictions.185 The Fifth Circuit has also upheld the imposition of a life sentence without parole for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more *510than five kilograms of cocaine.186 More to the point, the Fifth Circuit has upheld a 50-year sentence under the Texas habitual offender statute for a person convicted of theft of $27.64 worth of meat who had two prior misdemeanor theft convictions.187
Petitioner has not alleged any facts showing that any Texas capital murderers equally culpable to himself have received sentences less than death. Petitioner has also failed to allege any specific facts showing that the sentences routinely imposed in other jurisdictions for the commission of offenses identical or similar to his own are less than the sentence imposed in his case. In this case, the petitioner (1) acted as the ring leader of a gang that murdered and robbed Joey Hernandez and that robbed and repeatedly raped Cynthia West, (2) personally initiated and orchestrated the fatal assault upon Hernandez, and (3) personally committed the robbery and sexual assault of West. The jury specifically found that the petitioner had personally acted “deliberately” with regard the murder of Joey Hernandez and that the petitioner posed a continuing threat of violence to society. Under such circumstances, the imposition of a death sentence upon the petitioner does not violate proportionality principles even though petitioner’s mentally impaired minion Villanueva received a life sentence despite evidence that Villanueva may have actually delivered the fatal blow to Hernandez.188
B. Equal Protection Claims
1. Facial Challenge
An equal protection challenge to the Texas capital sentencing scheme on its face must include proof of a discriminatory legislative purpose in either the adoption or continuation of a capital sentencing scheme, i.e., proof that the state legislature selected or reaffirmed a particular capital sentencing scheme at least in part because, not merely in spite, of its adverse effect upon an identifiable group.189 Petitioner has alleged no specific facts which such a discriminatory animus on the part of the Texas Legislature.190 In short, an equal protection challenge to a capital sentencing scheme requires proof of the existence of purposeful discrimination.191 Petitioner simply has not presented any fact-specific allegations establishing such purposeful discrimination.192 Thus, insofar as his ninth claim can be construed as a facial challenge to the Texas capital sentencing scheme, that claim is without merit.193
*5112. “As Applied” Challenge
Insofar as petitioner argues that he is entitled a life sentence by .virtue of Villanueva’s receipt of such a sentence, petitioner’s “as applied” equal protection claim is barred by Teague.194 It is also wholly without merit. At its core, the Equal Protection Clause requires similar treatment of persons similarly situated.195 The simple fact is that the petitioner and Villanueva were not similarly situated for equal protection purposes. Any individualized sentencing decision regarding the petitioner and Villanueva would necessarily have required consideration of the fact that Villanueva suffered from severe and permanent mental impairments that rendered him significantly less capable than the petitioner of understanding the nature and significance of his own actions and of conforming his behavior to that mandated by the law.196 In addition, the evidence at petitioner’s 1989 trial established the petitioner as the primary instigator and leader of the confrontation with Joey Hernandez, the fatal assault upon Hernandez, and the robberies of both Hernandez and West, as well as the sexual assault upon West. Cynthia West testified that the petitioner initiated and orchestrated the fatal confrontation with Hernandez, initially scouting the scene, leaving to get Villanueva and two other accomplices, and then returning to the scene himself armed with a tire tool and alongside Villanueva, who was armed with an equally deadly knife. West also testified that when the petitioner spoke or directed, the other assailants followed his lead and there was no evidence introduced at the 1989 trial suggesting that anyone other than the petitioner gave any orders or directives to the four assailants.197 Even more significantly, there is no suggestion anywhere in the record now before this Court that Villanueva’s conduct while awaiting trial on this same charge or following his conviction even begins to match the list of violent felonies committed by the petitioner following his 1979 arrest for capital murder and subsequent escape from just*512ice.198 Thus, despite the evidence suggesting that Villanueva delivered the fatal blow to Joey Hernandez, there were compelling reasons for treating petitioner and Villanueva differently for sentencing purposes. Under such circumstances, Villanueva’s receipt of a life , sentence does not render the petitioner’s death sentence a violation of equal protection principles.199 For the foregoing reasons, none of the petitioner’s arguments contained in his ninth claim warrant federal habeas relief.
VIII. Brady Violation
In his eleventh claim for relief, petitioner argues that his constitutional rights were violated when the prosecution withheld from the defense at his 1989 trial evidence which might have been used to impeach the prosecution’s rebuttal witness Sam Ponder.200
A. The Claim
As explained above, at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial, the defense called Villanueva, who testified briefly that he had been permitted to enter a guilty plea to a reduced charge of ordinary murder and had received a life sentence.201 The prosecution then called as a rebuttal witness Sam Ponder, the assistant Bexar County District Attorney who had supervised Villanueva’s prosecution. Ponder testified that (1) he concluded after reviewing the evidence and conferring with his co-prosecutor that Villanueva was mentally-impaired, not intellectually capable of original thought, and a follower, and (2) he believed that Villanueva had acted at the petitioner’s direction in connection with the murder, and (3) while a jury had found Villanueva competent to stand trial, he did not personally believe the death penalty was appropriate for someone of Villanueva’s diminished mental capacity.202 Petitioner now argues that the prosecution withheld from the defense evidence showing that Villanueva was not as severely mentally-impaired as Ponder indicated during his testimony at petitioner’s 1989 trial and that such evidence would have enabled his trial counsel to impeach Ponder on the rationale for his reason not to seek the death penalty in Villanueva’s case.
More specifically, at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial, Sam Ponder testified that (1) he recalled that Villanueva had denied participating in the sexually assault on West, (2) he reviewed the mental health records concerning Villanueva and believed that Villanueva had the intellectual capacity of a seven-year-old, (3) he did not believe that Villanueva was capable of original *513thought, (4) he believed from his review of all relevant materials that Villanueva had merely been a follower of the petitioner during the crime and had acted at the petitioner’s direction, (5) he believed that Villanueva was mentally retarded, (6) while Villanueva had been found mentally competent to stand trial, he believed that finding reflected only that Villanueva possessed a-very meager level of mental capacity, stating that “you don’t have to be very smart to be competent to stand trial,” and (7) he believed that Villanueva was a street kid who lived by the code of the street and that Villanueva would not “rat” on others.203
Dr. John C. Sparks testified extensively at the evidentiary hearing held in July, 1995 in petitioner’s most recent state habeas corpus proceeding regarding Villanueva’s mental health records and his own examination of Villanueva. Dr. Sparks testified that (1) over the course of several years, Villanueva had been evaluated by nine different mental health professionals, most of whom were concerned primarily with the issue of whether Villanueva was competent to stand trial, (2) he had examined Villanueva in September, 1982 and had concluded that Villanueva was competent to stand trial, (3) he diagnosed Villanueva as displaying antisocial personality pattern, having used opiates in an episodic manner prior to arrest, and having borderline intellectual functioning, (4) Villanueva had repeatedly tested just above the mentally retarded level on IQ tests, (5) in 1979, Villanueva was diagnosed as exhibiting dis-social behavior, suffering from mild mental retardation with psycho-social deprivation, and possessing borderline intellectual functioning, (6) in July, 1980, Villanueva was diagnosed as mildly retarded, (7) in August, 1980, Villanueva was examined and found to have below average intelligence but to be fully capable of consulting with counsel, (8) in several different examinations undertaken in the late-1970’s Villanueva was diagnosed as displaying, borderline mental retardation, being a severe, sociopath and very dangerous, but still competent to stand trial, (9) Dr. Sparks believed that Villanueva was functioning intellectually within a range of from ages eight or nine to ages twelve or thirteen, (10) on tests involving reading and on written examinations, Villanueva had tested at the age of seven years and ten months, and (11) Villanueva was essentially illiterate.204
Petitioner now argues that (1) had his trial counsel been able to review Villanueva’s mental health records, they could have impeached Ponder’s trial testimony by showing that Villanueva was actually functioning at an intellectual level ranging from ages eight to thirteen, rather than at age seven, and (2) this would have cast doubt as to the legitimacy of Ponder’s decision not to seek the death penalty for Villanueva. For the reasons discussed below, however, those arguments are wholly bereft of merit.
B. The Constitutional Standard
The suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.205 Impeachment evidence also falls within the Brady rule.206 Even *514inadmissible evidence may be material for Brady purposes.207 There are three elements to a valid Brady claim: (1) the prosecution must suppress or withhold evidence, (2) which is favorable, and (3) material to the defense.208 Evidence is not “suppressed” if the defendant either knew, should have known, or with the exercise of due diligence could have learned, of the essential facts permitting him to take advantage of the exculpatory evidence.209 Undisclosed evidence is “material” if there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different.210 A reasonable probability of a different result is shown when non-disclosure puts the case in a different light so as to undermine confidence in the jury verdict.211 If materiality is established, no harmless error analysis is employed.212
C. Analysis
The problems with petitioner’s Brady claim are two-fold.
1. No Concealment of Public Records
First, the testimony during the evidentiary hearing held in petitioner’s most recent state habeas corpus proceeding unequivocally established that all of the records relating to Villanueva’s mental condition that petitioner now claims were “withheld” prior to his 1989 trial had, in fact, been filed as matters of public record in Villanueva’s state criminal case years prior to petitioner’s 1989 *515trial.213 Additionally, both of petitioner’s trial counsel testified that they had access to the- reports concerning Villanueva’s mental health from Villanueva’s court >case .file.214 Information such as that relating to Villanueva’s mental condition that was both a matter of public record long before a defendant’s 1989 trial and actually reviewed by defense counsel prior to trial could hardly have been “withheld” by the prosecution within the meaning of Brady.215 Furthermore, petitioner offered no evidence during that hearing showing that prosecutors ever withheld or concealed evidence regarding Villanueva’s mental health condition from petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel and petitioner has alleged no specific facts in this Court supporting such a contention or refuting the uneontroverted testimony to the contrary from his most recent state habeas corpus proceeding. One cannot withhold or conceal what has already been made a matter- of public record.
2. Nothing “Material” in the Records Anyway
Second, for the compelling reasons discussed in the testimony of petitioner’s trial counsel at the evidentiary hearing held July 11 and 20, 1995 during petitioner’s most recent state habeas corpus proceeding, the purported impeachment evidence identified by petitioner herein, i.e., the mental health records of Villanueva, was not material within the meaning of Brady.
Petitioner’s trial counsel testified extensively-during that state court hearing that they introduced evidence regarding Villanueva’s life sentence for the purpose of allowing them to argue at sentencing that it was unfair for the petitioner to receive a death sentence while the individual who actually delivered the fatal blow to Hernandez had received a lesser sentence.216 Their strategy at the punishment phase of petitioner’s trial was to convince the jury that the petitioner deserved a life sentence because of the fact that Villanueva had received such a sentence, not because of the reasons Villanueva had received such a sentence.217 Petitioner’s trial counsel did not believe that impeaching Sam Ponder with regard to the reasons why he chose not to seek the death penalty for Villanueva would have been helpful to petitioner.218 Both of petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel emphasized in their testimony at the July, 1995, state habeas hearing that information showing that Sam Ponder had erroneously chosen not to seek the death penalty for Villanueva would not have aided their efforts to obtain a similar sentence for the petitioner because the thrust of their argument was the unfairness imposing different sentences on petitioner and Villanueva, not the reasons *516why Villanueva had received a life sentence.219 Petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel testified that the reasons why Ponder had chosen to be merciful toward Villanueva were irrelevant to their strategy.220 It simply did not matter to petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel whether Ponder’s decision to be merciful toward Villanueva had been based upon Ponder’s erroneous understanding of the scope of Villanueva’s involvement in the rape of West, Ponder’s erroneous belief as to the degree of Villanueva’s diminished mental capacity, or simply Ponder’s personal moral feelings about the propriety of the death penalty; what mattered was that Villanueva had received a life sentence.221
The evidence before the jury at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial included testimony detailing (1) the petitioner’s leadership role in the fatal assault upon Joey Hernandez and his personal commission of both the robbery and rape of Cynthia West, (2) the petitioner’s escape from the Bexar County Jail while awaiting trial on this same capital murder charge, (3) the petitioner’s numerous instances of violent and illegal conduct during his years of incarceration, and (4) the petitioner’s- brutal assault, rape, and sodomization of another young women in Florida following petitioner’s escape from the Bexar County Jail. The issues before the jury at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 198 trial were whether the petitioner had personally acted “deliberately” with regard to the murder of Joey Hernandez and whether there was a probability the petitioner would continue to pose a continuing threat to society.222 Faced with compelling evidence regarding the petitioner’s leadership role in the fatal assault upon Joey Hernandez and the petitioner’s demonstrated propensity for future violence, petitioner’s trial counsel were reduced to making an appeal for jury nullification at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial based upon the purported “unfairness” of Villanueva receiving only - a life sentence while the petitioner received death. Therefore, the impeachment of Sam Ponder with regard to his reasons for not seeking the death penalty for Villanueva would not only have been irrelevant to the “unfairness” argument advanced by petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel at the punishment phase of trial but might actually have undermined that argument.223 Under such circumstances, there is simply no reasonable probability that, but for the alleged non-disclosure of evidence of Villanueva’s mental condition to petitioner’s counsel and. the suggestion that Ponder’s testimony could have been impeached thereby, the result of the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial would have been different.
For the foregoing reasons, petitioner’s Brady claim does not warrant federal habeas relief.
IX. Insufficient Evidence re “Deliberately”
In his twelfth ground for relief, petitioner argues that there was legally insufficient evidence supporting the jury’s affirmative answer to the first special sentencing issue; which inquired whether the petitioner had personally acted “deliberately” with regard to the murder of Joey Hernandez.224
*517A. The Claim
The first special sentencing issue submitted to petitioner’s 1989 jury inquired as follows:
“Was the conduct of the defendant that caused the death of the deceased committed deliberately and with the reasonable expectation that the death of Jose M. Hernandez would result?”225
In addition, the state trial court defined the term “deliberately” and instructed petitioner’s jury that, in answering the special sentencing issues, the jury should focus its attention on the conduct of the petitioner alone and disregard the trial court’s previous instruction at the guilt-innocence phase of trial on “law of the parties.” 226 Petitioner argues that the evidence was legally insufficient to establish that he acted deliberately with regard to the murder of Joey Hernandez because (1) Cynthia West’s testimony established that Villanueva, and not petitioner, had a knife, (2) the fatal blow to Hernandez was applied by a knife, not the tire tool petitioner used to beat Hernandez, and (3) petitioner had the opportunity to kill West but did not do so.227
B. The Constitutional Standard
The standard for testing the sufficiency of evidence in a federal habeas review of a state court conviction is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt228 The evidence need not exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence or be completely inconsistent with every conclusion except guilt so long as a reasonable trier of fact could find that the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.229 To determine whether the evidence is sufficient to support a state criminal conviction, the federal habeas court must look to state law for the substantive elements of the relevant criminal offense.230 Either direct or circumstantial *518evidence can contribute to the sufficiency of the evidence underlying the conviction.231 A federal court may not substitute its own judgment regarding the credibility of witnesses for that of the state courts.232 All credibility choices must be resolved in favor of the jury’s verdict.233
C. Analysis
To carry its burden of proving the defendant acted “deliberately,” the prosecution in a Texas capital sentencing proceeding “does not have to show that the defendant ‘carefully weighed or considered or carefully studied the situation immediately prior to killing the deceased’ rather, the circumstances of the crime may be sufficient to support a finding of deliberateness.234 “To find the act of deliberateness, there must be the moment of deliberation and the determination on the part of the actor to kill. Such determination must necessarily be found from the totality of the circumstances of the individual case.” 235 In this regard, petitioner’s reliance on the fact that he did not kill West goes astray; for the question before petitioner’s jury was solely whether petitioner had acted deliberately in connection with the killing of Joey Hernandez.236
As explained at length in Section IV above, when viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, Cynthia West’s testimony established that (1) the petitioner initially approached Joey Hernandez’s window alone and asked for some oil for his car,237 (2) when Joey told the petitioner that he had none, the petitioner left and drove off,238 (3) a short time later, the petitioner, this time accompanied by Manuel Villanueva and two younger Hispanic males, drove back to the park, parked their vehicle, walked up to the driver’s side of Joey’s car, and again knocked on the window,239 (4) the petitioner was armed with a tire tool and Villanueva was armed with a pocket knife,240 (5) the petitioner asked Joey to take him to get some gas,241 (6) Cynthia West and Joey each noticed the knife in Villanueva’s hand,242 (7) when Joey said that he was not going to take them anywhere because he had seen the knife in *519Villanueva’s hand, Villanueva replied “What knife? I don’t have a knife,”243 (8) Joey started to place his hand on the ignition but someone stuck a hand through the window and struck Joey hard on the left side of his face,244 (9) the assailants then unlocked Joey’s door and the petitioner struck Joey on the left side and the head with a tire tool,245 (10) the petitioner repeatedly struck' Joey with the tire tool while Villanueva stabbed Joey’s head and left side with a pocket knife,246 (11) while the petitioner and Villanueva continued to assault Joey, the other two assailants came around to the passenger side of the car, unlocked the door, grabbed West by her aim, and pulled her to the rear of the car by the trunk,247 (12) when West got to the back of the ear, the petitioner grabbed her left arm at the wrist and said to her “You better run, you bitch,”248 (13) the petitioner then pulled her along at a brisk pace,249 (14) when West was unable to match the petitioner’s speed because of her high heels and attempted to tell the petitioner that she was asthmatic and pregnant, the petitioner directed her to take off her shoes, threatened her with the tire tool which he still held in his hand, and told her “You better run, you bitch or I’m going to do the same shit to you I just did to [Joey],”250 (15) at one point, the petitioner shoved West down, placed his hand first on her stomach and then over her mouth, stuck the tire tool into the ground just inches from her head, and told her she better not scream,251 (16) the petitioner then robbed and raped her, telling her at one point during the sexual assault “you better start pumping,” 252 (17) once the petitioner got off her, Villanueva raped her,253 (18) when Villanueva finished raping her, a third assailant raped her while Villanueva stood by and watched,254 (19) the petitioner then spoke in Spanish to the other assailants, saying something to the effect “Come on, let’s go,”255 (20) the four assailants then ran over to where they had moved the petitioner’s car and Joey’s car and drove off,256 and (21) West got a good look at the petitioner’s face both of the times he approached Joey’s car.257
The testimony of the medical examiner, when viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, established that (1) Joey had been beaten several times about the face and head, including one blow that had fractured both the bone and cartilage in his nose,258 (2) the blow to Joey’s nose injury would have caused enough pain to incapacitate Joey even if it did not render him unconscious,259 (3) Joey had been stabbed several times in the neck, head, left hip, and left knee and one of those stab wounds had cut three quarters of the way through his spinal cord between the first and second cervical vertebrae,260 and (4) the spinal cord injury was the cause of Joey’s death.261
From the foregoing evidence, petitioner’s 1989 jury could reasonably have inferred that (1) after he was rebuffed by Joey, the petitioner went and deliberately obtained the assistance of three accomplices, including one who was armed with a deadly weapon, and returned to the park, (2) the petitioner approached Joey’s car a second time while *520deliberately carrying a tire tool that was capable of causing serious bodily injury and incapacitating a person, (3) the petitioner was aware that Villanueva was armed with' a knife before any blows were delivered to Joey but deliberately instigated another confrontation with Joey, (4) while the petitioner deliberately assaulted Joey with the tire tool, Villanueva stabbed Joey, (5) immediately after the fatal assault on Joey took place, the petitioner threatened to do to West what, in his own words, he had just done to Joey, (6) when the petitioner and his accomplices not only stole Joey’s vehicle but also robbed both Joey and West of all their money and left West naked and alone late at night, they thereby prevented West from immediately calling for help or getting Joey to a hospital quickly for treatment of his injuries, and (7) throughout the fatal assault upon Joey and the robbery and sexual assault on West, the petitioner acted as the leader of the four assailants.
Based on the narrative concerning the petitioner’s troubled and deprived childhood contained in the juvenile justice report prepared when the petitioner was only twelve years old,262 petitioner’s 1989 jury could also have inferred that the petitioner’s conduct on August 4, 1979 was a deliberate series of actions by a person accustomed to taking what he could get and caring little whom he hurt. Petitioner offered no evidence indicating that the he ever made any effort to limit or restrict the scope of his joint attack with Villanueva upon Joey or that he ever made any effort to seek or render aid to Joey after completing that assault. On the contrary, by robbing West himself and robbing or allowing the robbery of Joey and the theft of Joey’s automobile, the petitioner, as leader of the pack, thereby deprived West of any practical means of quickly getting Joey to a hospital or getting immediate help for Joey’s injuries. Given the obvious seriousness of Joey’s injuries, depriving West of the ability to quickly get help for Joey was itself an act of deliberate indifference to Joey’s life. The sordid details of West’s testimony made clear that immediately after the fatal assault upon Joey, while Joey lay incapacitated and bleeding from his injuries, the petitioner led his gang on a series of sexual assaults on West. Significant as well is the fact that the petitioner’s 1989 jury had before it absolutely no expression of remorse for Joey’s death from the petitioner.
The evidence summarized above, when viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s 1989 verdict established that the petitioner (1) deliberately returned to the park with three accomplices, one of whom carried a deadly weapon, for the specific purposes of killing Joey, stealing Joey’s car, robbing both Joey and West, and sexually assaulting West, (2) deliberately instigated and another confrontation with Joey while himself armed with a tire tool and with full knowledge that Villanueva was armed with a knife, (3) deliberately initiated and participated in the fatal assault upon Joey, (4) deliberately made no effort to limit the scope of the assault upon Joey, (5) deliberately made no effort to render aid to Joey after the assault, (6) deliberately prevented West from immediately getting assistance for Joey’s obvious injuries, and (7) did so because the petitioner personally possessed the specific intent to kill Joey. The evidence introduced at petitioner’s 1989 trial was more than sufficient to support the jury’s affirmative answer to the first special sentencing issue.
For the foregoing reasons, petitioner’s twelfth claim does not warrant federal habeas corpus relief.
X. Ineffective Assistance Claims
In his second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and tenth claims for relief, herein, petitioner argues that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by committing a wide variety of professionally deficient acts and omissions.263
A. The Claims
Petitioner argues that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by (1). failing to object to the failure of the punishment phase jury instructions to afford petitioner’s 1989 *521jury an adequate opportunity to consider petitioner’s mitigating evidence, (2) failing to adequately voir dire members of the jury venire concerning their views on petitioner’s mitigating evidence, (3) failing to object during voir dire to the prosecutor’s statement to one member of the venire to the effect that the jury could not consider evidence of the petitioner’s co-defendant’s life sentence when answering the special sentencing issues, (4) making closing arguments at the guilt-innocence phase of trial which effectively waived the lesser-included offense instructions, (5) making disparaging admissions and uncomplimentary comments about petitioner during closing arguments at the punishment phase of trial, and (6) failing to request and obtain discovery into documents relating to Villanueva’s mental health that could have been used to impeach the testimony of Sam Ponder regarding his reasons for not seeking a death sentence for Villanueva.
B. The Constitutional Standard
The constitutional standard for determining whether a criminal defendant has been denied the effective assistance of counsel, as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, was announced by the Supreme Court in the case of Strickland v. Washington:
A convicted defendant’s claim that counsel’s assistance was so defective as to require reversal of a conviction or death sentence has two components. First, the defendant must show that counsel’s performance was deficient. This requires showing .that counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the “counsel” guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment. Second, the defendant must show that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. This requires showing that counsel’s errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable.264
In order to establish that his counsel’s performance was constitutionally deficient, a convicted defendant must show that counsel’s representation “fell below an objective standard of reasonableness.” 265 In so doing, a convicted defendant must carry the burden of proof and overcome a strong presumption that the conduct of his trial counsel falls within a wide range of reasonable professional assistance.266 The courts are extremely deferential in scrutinizing the performance of counsel and make every effort to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight.267 It is strongly presumed that counsel has rendered adequate assistance and made all significant *522decisions in the exercise of reasonable professional judgment.268 An attorney’s strategic choices, usually based on information supplied by the defendant and from a thorough investigation of relevant facts and law are virtually unchallengeable.269 Counsel is required neither to advance every non-frivolous argument nor to investigate every conceivable matter inquiry into which could be classified as non-frivolous.270 A criminal defense counsel is not required to exercise clairvoyance during the course of a criminal trial.271
The proper standard for evaluating counsel’s performance under the Sixth Amendment is “reasonably effective assistance.”272 “An error by counsel, even if professionally unreasonable, does not warrant setting aside the judgment of a criminal proceeding if the error had no effect on the judgment.”273 “Accordingly, any deficiencies in counsel’s performance must be prejudicial to the defense in order to constitute ineffective assistance under the Constitution.” 274 In order to establish that he has sustained prejudice, the convicted defendant “must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to -undermine confidence in the outcome.” 275 In addition, analysis of the second or “prejudice” prong of the Strickland test must include examination of whether counsel’s deficient performance caused the outcome to be unreliable or the proceeding to be fundamentally unfair.276 “Unreliability or *523unfairness does not result if the ineffectiveness of counsel does not deprive the defendant of any. substantive or procedural right to which the law entitles him.”277
In summary then, in order to prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, a convicted defendant must show that (1) counsel’s representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and (2) there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.278
The two-part test of Strickland, has been applied by the Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit in a wide variety of contextual challenges to the effectiveness of counsel’s performance. Given the language of Strickland itself, the test applies to the conduct of counsel both in preparation for and at trial 279 An attorney’s failure to investigate the ease against the defendant and to interview witnesses can support a finding of ineffective assistance.280 However, in order to establish that counsel was rendered ineffective by virtue of a failure to investigate the case against a defendant or to discover and present evidence, a convicted defendant must do more than merely allege a failure to investigate; he must state with specificity what the investigation would have revealed, what evidence would have resulted from that investigation, and how such would have altered the outcome of the case.281 Furthermore, when a trial counsel’s decision not to pursue further investigation into a potential defense or into an area of potential mitigating evidence is based on investigation and consultation with the defendant which leads the attorney to believe that further investigation would be fruitless, that decision may not be challenged as unreasonable.282 The extent of an attorney’s investigation into an area must be viewed in the context of the defendant’s cooperation with the attorney’s investigation and with a heavy measure of deference to counsel’s judgments.283
*524Because the Strickland opinion itself dealt with a sentencing proceeding, the two-part test applies to sentencing proceedings.284 To satisfy the prejudice prong of the Strickland test in the context of a non-capital sentencing proceeding, a defendant must establish a reasonable probability that, but for the deficient performance of counsel, his sentence would have been significantly less harsh.285 In a capital sentencing proceeding, the prejudice analysis focuses on whether there is a reasonable probability that, absent counsel’s errors, a life sentence would have been imposed.286 The failure to present mitigating evidence during the sentencing phase of a capital trial is not, per se, deficient performance.287 Counsel does, however, have a duty to make a reasonable investigation into available mitigating evidence or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary288 Counsel is also obligated to investigate beyond merely communicating with his client once counsel becomes aware of the possible existence of potentially mitigating evidence.289
Because a convicted defendant must satisfy both prongs of the Strickland test, a failure to establish either deficient performance or prejudice under that test makes it unnecessary to examine the other prong.290 Therefore, a failure to establish that counsel’s performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness avoids the need to consider the issue of prejudice.291 It is also unnecessary to consider whether counsel’s performance was deficient where there is an insufficient showing of prejudice.292 Mere eonclusory allegations in support of claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are insufficient, as a matter of law, to raise a constitutional issue.293
*525C. Analysis
1. Failure to Object to Punishment Phase Jury Instructions
Petitioner argues that hist trial counsel should have objected to the punishment phase jury instructions because, as petitioner argued in his first and third claims for relief discussed in detail in Section V above, those instructions precluded his 1989 jury from giving effect to petitioner’s mitigating evidence.294
a. No Deficient Performance
The deficiency prong of Strickland is judged by counsel’s conduct under the law existing at the time of the conduct295 and in view of the facts and resources available at the time of trial.296 In essence, petitioner criticizes his 1989 trial counsel for failing to anticipate the Supreme Court’s subsequent Penry decision regarding the need for supplemental jury instructions on mitigating evidence and failing to either request or object to the absence of something akin to a Penry instruction. However, the failure of petitioner’s trial counsel to anticipate the Supreme Court ruling in Penry did not cause the performance of said counsel to fall below an objective level of reasonableness. “In eases tried prior to Penry, counsel is not defective for failing to anticipate that decision.” 297 As explained at greater length below, petitioner’s trial counsel had compelling strategic reasons for choosing not to rely upon petitioner’s troubled childhood and deprived family background as the sine qua non of their defense at the punishment phase of trial.298
b. No Prejudice
Moreover, neither the petitioner’s “mitigating” evidence regarding his youth, race, purported illiteracy, troubled childhood, deprived family background, and his non-triggerman status, nor his evidence regarding Villanueva’s life sentence would have warranted a Penry instruction even if petitioner’s trial counsel had requested one. To warrant a Penry instruction, evidence must both (1) relate to the defendant’s character or background or to the circumstances of the offense and be sufficient to lead a reasonable juror to impose a penalty less than death and (2) have been beyond the “effective reach” of the jury.299 A Texas capital sentencing jury can give adequate consideration to evidence showing a defendant neither fired the fatal shot nor delivered the fatal blow without the necessity of a Penry instruction.300 The mitigating effects of a defendant’s youth can also be adequately considered by a Texas jury without the necessity of a Penry instruction.301 Petitioner’s evidence regarding his minority race, purportedly illiteracy, troubled childhood, and deprived family background was not accompanied by any evidence showing a “nexus” or causal relationship between those factors and his criminal
*526conduct on August 4, 1979.302 Therefore, petitioner would not have been entitled to a Penry instruction with regard to any of that evidence.303 Finally, petitioner’s evidence regarding Villanueva’s life sentence did not relate to petitioner’s own character or background or the circumstances of petitioner’s crime and, therefore, also would not have warranted a Periry instruction had his counsel requested one.304
*527The evidence supporting the jury’s affirmative findings on the two special sentencing issues was more than merely sufficient; it was compelling.305 In addition to the facts of the crime, the prosecution introduced evidence of the petitioner’s numerous acts of violence and illegal activity during his incarceration, the petitioner’s escape from the Bexar County Jail, and the graphic details of petitioner’s assault, robbery, and petitioner’s brutal rape of a young woman in Florida following his escape. In a capital sentencing proceeding, the prejudice analysis focuses on whether there is a reasonable probability that, absent counsel’s errors, a life sentence would have been imposed.306 There is no reasonable probability that, but for the failure of petitioner’s trial counsel to request a Penry instruction or to object to the absence of such an instruction in petitioner’s 1989 punishment phase jury instructions, the outcome of that phase of petitioner’s trial would have been different.
In fact, given the overwhelming evidence regarding the petitioner’s leadership role in the murder of Joey Hernandez and the compelling testimony of the petitioner’s propensity for extreme and outrageous violence toward women, there is no reasonable probability that, even had the state trial court given a Penry instruction at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial, the. outcome of that phase of petitioner’s trial would have been any different. Likewise, because of the lack of any clearcut nexus between petitioner’s proffered mitigating evidence and the petitioner’s crime, not to mention the overall lack of substance to petitioner’s proffered mitigating evidence, the absence of a Penry instruction did not render the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial fundamentally unfair or unreliable. Petitioner was not entitled to a generic jury instruction regarding mitigating evidence.307
Therefore, petitioner’s second claim herein, and his first assertion of ineffective assistance, does not satisfy either prong of Strickland and does not warrant federal habeas relief.
2. Failing to Adequately Voir Dire the Jury Venire
Petitioner argues that his trial counsel should have more thoroughly questioned members of the jury venire at voir dire concerning their views on petitioner’s mitigating evidence, i.e., petitioner’s evidence regarding his youth, purported illiteracy, minority race, troubled childhood, deprived family background, non-triggerman status, and his evi*528denee regarding Villanueva’s life sentence.308
a. No Deficient Performance
An attorney’s actions during voir dire are considered to be a matter of trial strategy and cannot form the basis for an ineffective assistance claim unless counsel’s tactical decisions are so ill chosen that they “permeate the entire trial with obvious unfairness.”309 The petitioner’s two 1989 trial counsel testified extensively concerning their voir dire and trial strategy at the evidentiary hearing held July, 1995 in petitioner’s most recent state habeas corpus proceeding and explained that (1) at the time of petitioner’s trial, there was no vehicle available through which the petitioner’s jury could have given mitigating effect to evidence of the petitioner’s troubled childhood and deprived background,310 (2) they considered the possibility of presenting live testimony from the petitioner’s family members regarding petitioner’s troubled and deprived childhood but decided as a matter of trial strategy not to do so because they found that petitioner’s family members were unwilling to either admit just how bad the petitioner’s childhood family situation had been or corroborate most of the ugly facts contained in the documents regarding petitioner’s deprived background that petitioner’s trial counsel had obtained,311 (3) they decided that petitioner would not testify at trial because the petitioner’s testimony at his previous state habeas hearing would have subjected petitioner to possible impeachment on cross-examination at trial and because of the petitioner’s refusal to admit he was even present when the murder was committed,312 (4) they believed that evidence regarding the petitioner’s troubled childhood and deprived background might actually hurt their chances of getting a negative answer to the second special sentencing issue regarding future dangerousness,313 (5) they decided not to focus their defense at the punishment phase of trial on the introduction of mitigating evidence regarding petitioner’s troubled childhood and deprived family background but, instead, to make the jury aware of that information and then urge a life sentence for petitioner because the petitioner was not the triggerman and Villanueva had received such a sentence,314 (6) they did question the members of the venire at voir dire concerning their feelings on the non-trigger-man issue,315 but (7) they did not voir dire the venire members as to their opinions on defense’s other mitigating evidence because they believed that (a) asking voir dire questions inquiring how individual members of the venire would react to specific mitigating evidence would probably have resulted in an objection by the prosecutor which the trial court would have sustained,316 (b) asking *529such questions and receiving answers indicating a predisposition in favor of the defense would probably have resulted in the prosecutor using peremptory strikes against those members of the venire favorably disposed to the defense,317 (c) it was better to evaluate the potential jurors based on how they related to the prosecutor rather than how they answered defense counsel’s questions,318 and (d) the ultímate goal of voir is to select a jury as favorable to the defense as possible and educating individual jurors on the law can be dangerous.319 Thus, petitioner’s trial counsel had well-reasoned, compelling, strategic reasons for not using voir dire to inquire into the reactions of the individual members of petitioner’s jury venire as to potential mitigating evidence.320
This Court has independently reviewed the entire voir dire examination of each of the twelve venire members who later sat on petitioner’s 1989 petit jury. It is true, as petitioner now complains, his trial counsel did not make any inquiries regarding those individual venire members’ opinions on the efficacy of mitigating evidence of a criminal defendant’s family background, deprived childhood, other personal characteristics, or co-defendant’s lesser sentence. However, as explained above, petitioner’s trial counsel had compelling strategic reasons for not delving into those areas at voir dire.
Petitioner’s suggestion that his trial counsel was professionally deficient in failing to adequately voir dire the venire on the issue of petitioner’s “non-triggerman” status is simply inane. The prosecution questioned each of the twelve persons who eventually served as petit jurors extensively during voir dire concerning (1) the law of parties as it applied to the guilt-innocence phase of trial, (2) the inapplicability of the law of parties at the punishment phase of trial, and (3) the propriety of imposing the death penalty upon a defendant who, although a participant in a murder, had neither fired the fatal shot nor delivered the fatal blow.321 Petitioner’s trial counsel had the benefit of witnessing those venire members’ responses to those voir dire inquiries before undertaking their own examinations of the same venire members and chose to discuss the law of parties and the issue of the propriety of imposing the death penalty on a “non-triggerman” murder defendant with only six of the twelve members of the jury venire who later served as petit *530jurors at petitioner’s 1989 trial.322 In addition, both the prosecution and petitioner’s trial counsel had access at the time of voir dire to the venire members’ answers to extensive questionnaires soliciting a wide variety of information on the venire members’ backgrounds and political views.323 Petitioner has not alleged any specific facts establishing the necessity for any further voir dire on those same subjects by his trial counsel.324
“Selecting a jury is ‘more art than science.’ ” 325 There is nothing unreasonable or professionally deficient in a defense counsel’s informed decision to rely upon his own reading of venire members’ verbal answers, body language, and overall demeanor during the prosecution’s voir dire examination.326 In view of the extensive voir dire by the prosecution regarding the venire members’ views on the law of parties and the petitioner’s “non-triggerman” status,' the decision by petitioner’s trial counsel not to re-hash the same issues with every member of the venire during said counsel’s own voir dire did not cause the performance of said counsel to fall below an objective level of reasonableness. Petitioner has not alleged any specific facts showing that his 1989 trial counsels’ strategic decision-making process outlined above fell outside the broad range of professionally acceptable trial strategy to which this Court must give great deference.
b. No Prejudice
Petitioner has not alleged any facts showing that any of the twelve persons who served as petit jurors during his 1989 trial were either biased against him or otherwise unqualified to serve in that capacity. Petitioner has not alleged any facts showing that any of these same twelve petit jurors could have been disqualified from service at that trial had his trial counsel conducted a through more vigorous or extensive voir dire examination. Petitioner has also alleged no facts suggesting or implying that more extensive voir dire questioning by his trial counsel would have revealed any information which would have caused his counsel to exercise a peremptory strike against any of those twelve venire persons.327 Petitioner does not *531identify any member of his petit jury against whom he now alleges his trial counsel should have exercised a peremptory challenge. In short, petitioner has not identified any objectionable juror whom his counsel was forced to accept as a result of any deficiency by said counsel during voir dire.328 Petitioner has also failed to allege any specific facts showing a reasonable probability that, but for the failure of his trial counsel to more thoroughly voir dire the jury venire, the composition of his jury would have been any more favorable than that of the actual jury that convicted and sentenced petitioner to death in June 1989.329 Petitioner’s conclusory assertions that a greater emphasis on his “non-trigger-man” status during defense counsel’s voir dire might have better educated the eventual petit jurors on this point is far too speculative an argument to justify federal habeas relief.330
More significantly, petitioner has alleged no specific facts showing a reasonable probability that, but for the failure of his trial counsel to more thoroughly voir dire the jury venire, the outcome of either phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial would have been any different. As explained above, the testimony of Cynthia West regarding the petitioner’s leadership rolé in the murder of Joey Hernandez was compelling, as were her graphic descriptions of the petitioner’s primary role in her robbery and rape. The petitioner’s propensity for future violence was established almost as a matter of law at the punishment phase *532of trial by the testimony of numerous prison guards and petitioner’s Florida rape victim. “If the facts adduced at trial point so overwhelmingly to the defendant’s guilt that even the most competent attorney would be unlikely to have obtained an acquittal, then the defendant’s ineffective assistance claim must fall.”331 The evidence introduced at petitioner’s 1989 trial included testimony regarding the life sentence Villanueva had received despite the likelihood that Villanueva had delivered the fatal blow to Joey Hernandez. Petitioner’s 1989 jury chose not to engage in jury nullification and imposed a death sentence upon petitioner. Given the strong case the prosecution presented at petitioner’s 1989 trial regarding petitioner’s primary role in the murder of Joey Hernandez and petitioner’s propensity for future violence, there is simply no reasonable probability that, but for the failure of petitioner’s trial counsel to voir dire the jury venire regarding their views on the relevance of Villanueva’s life sentence, the petitioner’s 1989 jury would have answered either of the special sentencing issues negatively.
For the foregoing reasons, none of the petitioner’s complaints about the performance of his 1989 trial counsel during voir dire satisfy either prong of Strickland. Accordingly, the petitioner’s fourth claim herein, and second assertion of ineffective assistanee by Ms trial counsel, does not warrant federal habeas corpus relief.
3. Failing to Object to Prosecutor’s Voir Dire Statement Re Irrelevance of Co-Defendant’s Sentence
Petitioner argues that his trial counsel failed to object during the voir dire of juror Paul L. Wilson to an allegedly erroneous statement by the prosecutor to the effect that the sentence received by petitioner’s co-defendant was irrelevant to any issue at the pimishment phase of petitioner’s trial.332
a. No Deficient Performance
There was notMng deficient in the failure of petitioner’s trial counsel to object to the prosecutor’s explanation of the law relevant to the pumshment phase of a Texas capital murder trial. Attorney Raymund Fuchs, petitioner’s co-counsel at the 1989 trial, testified at the state habeas hearing held in July, 1995 that he personally did not believe the prosecutor’s statement was erroneous as a matter of law.333 Petitioner’s primary defense counsel at the 1989 trial, attorney Terry McDonald, testified at that same hearing that, had he raised an objection to the prosecution’s statement and the state trial court had overruled that objection, that juror would have known that the trial court had placed its imprimatur behind the' prosecution’s position.334 Thus, petitioner’s trial counsel had *533objectively reasonable tactical reasons why they chose not to make the objection in question. Moreover, as explained below, such an objection would have been fruitless. The failure of petitioner’s trial counsel to make such a meritless objection did not cause the performance of said counsel to fall below an objective level of reasonableness.335
b. No Prejudice
As explained in great detail in Section V.B.l.c. above, evidence that a capital murder defendant’s co-defendant or accomplice received a life sentence based on that co-defendant or accomplice’s own role in the same capital murder does not fall within the scope of “constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence” as defined by the Fifth Circuit in its post-Perm/ opinions. Evidence of a co-defendant’s sentence does not relate to the defendant’s own character, background, or role in the offense.336 A defendant’s criminal conduct can not logically be “attributable” to a sentence subsequently imposed upon a co-defendant, accomplice, or other joint participant in the prior criminal activity.337 Thus, the complaint raised by petitioner is legally without merit.. Any objection of the nature urged by petitioner in this cause would have been futile had petitioner’s' trial counsel made such an objection during petitioner’s 1989 voir dire.
Despite the foregoing, petitioner’s trial counsel did, in fact, introduce evidence regarding Villanueva’s life sentence at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial338 and did, in fact, argue that this evidence warranted a life sentence for petitioner.339 However, the petitioner’s jury was faced with overwhelming evidence regarding the primacy of the petitioner’s role in the murder of Joey Hernandez and the petitioner’s demonstrated propensity for future violence. Thus, petitioner’s jury had before it the evidence of Villanueva’s life sentence but instead chose to impose a sentence of death upon petitioner. In a capital sentencing proceeding, the prejudice analysis focuses on whether there is a reasonable probability that, absent counsel’s errors, a life sentence would have been imposed.340 Under the facts of this case, there *534is simply no reasonable probability that, but for the failure of petitioner’s trial counsel to object to the prosecutor’s explanation in question during voir dire, the outcome of the petitioner’s 1989 trial would have been any different. Nor did the failure of petitioner’s defense counsel to make that objection render petitioner’s 1989 trial fundamentally unfair or the result thereof unreliable. Thus, the failure of petitioner’s trial counsel to object to the prosecutor’s legally correct explanation of the law did not prejudice petitioner within the meaning of Strickland.
Accordingly, the petitioner’s fifth claim herein, and third assertion of ineffective assistance by his trial counsel, does not satisfy either prong of Strickland and does not warrant federal habeas corpus relief.
4. Defense Counsel’s “Waiver” of Lesser-Included Offense Instruction
Petitioner argues that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by effectively waiving the lesser-included offense instructions at the guilt-innocence phase of trial.341
a. No Deficient Performance
A careful review of the entire closing argument presented by petitioner’s 1989 defense counsel at the guilt-innocence phase of trial establishes that the argument about which petitioner now complains was consistent with the defense strategy at that phase of trial and far from professionally deficient or objectively unreasonable.342 Attorney Fuchs testified at the July, 1995, state habeas hearing that the defense’s trial strategy at the guilt-innocence phase of trial was to focus on Villanueva as the person responsible for the murder and to suggest that Villanueva had acted independently of the petitioner.343 Attorney McDonald testified at the same state habeas hearing, confirmed attorney Fuchs’s testimony regarding the nature of the defense’s strategy at the guilt-innocence phase *535of trial, and also testified that (1) their strategy at the close of that phase of trial was for him to argue for complete exoneration while attorney Fuchs would argue in favor of conviction for only a lesser-included offense, (2) his own goal at that point in the trial was to urge the jury to look beyond the law of parties and to exonerate petitioner, and (3) he did not believe that the defense had “waived” any lesser-included offense instructions by so doing.344 During closing argument at the guilt-innocence phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial, attorney Fuchs argued that (1) the prosecution had failed to prove that the petitioner had possessed the specific intent to kill Joey Hernandez, (2) all of the physical evidence regarding Joey Hernandez’s murder was linked to Villanueva, not the petitioner, and (3) there were internal inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the testimony of Cynthia West.345 Attorney McDonald then argued that (1) Cynthia West had gone through a traumatic experience, her initial identification of her assailants did not match petitioner’s physical appearance, her testimony contained other internal inconsistencies, and, therefore, her testimony identifying petitioner as one of her assailants was not credible, (2) the concept of “guilt by association” should not be used to convict petitioner of murder, (3) mere presence alone is not sufficient to convict one of a crime, (4) the petitioner’s three sisters had each testi: fied that the petitioner was elsewhere at the time of the offense, (5) the petitioner’s escape from custody was not evidence of a guilty conscience, and (6) for the foregoing reasons, the jury should acquit the petitioner entirely.346
Given the nature of the evidence presented at the guilt-innocence phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial, the strategic decision by petitioner’s defense counsel to argue for both an outright acquittal, as well as a conviction for only one or more of the lesser-included offenses, was well within the realm of professionally competent decision-making to which this Court must give due deference.347 There, was nothing objectively unreasonable in arguing both that Cynthia West’s identification of the petitioner was untrustworthy and that, even if one accepted West’s identification, the prosecution’s evidence failed to show that petitioner had possessed the specific intent to murder Joey Hernandez.348 *536This is precisely the sort of objectively reasonable, tactical decision-making to which this Court must defer in its review of the performance of trial counsel.349
b. No Prejudice
Furthermore, given the nature and weight of the evidence introduced at the guilt-innocence phase of trial, the strategic decision by petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel to argue for both an outright acquittal and a conviction for only a lesser-included offense did not prejudice petitioner within the meaning of Strickland. The evidence introduced at that phase of trial consisted not only of West’s eyewitness identification of the petitioner as the leader of the gang that murdered Joey Hernandez, robbed, terrorized, and repeatedly raped her, and then drove off with Joey’s ear, but also included the defendant’s escape from justice and the physical evidence linking Villanueva to Hernandez’s murder and robbery. There is simply no reasonable probability that, but for the fact that petitioner’s counsel argued both for both outright acquittal and a conviction on only a lesser-included offense at the guilt-innocence phase of his 1989 trial, the outcome of that proceeding would have been any different. By so arguing, petitioner’s trial counsel placed two separate, but not mutually exclusive, defensive theories before the jury and that jury rejected both. Given the evidence then before the jury, there is no reasonable probability that, had petitioner’s defense counsel presented only the lesser-included offense theory, the jury would have acquitted the petitioner of capital murder.350 Nor did the strategic decision by petitioner’s 1989 defense counsel to present both of those defensive theories to the jury render petitioner’s 1989 trial fundamentally unfair or the result thereof unreliable.
Accordingly, the petitioner’s sixth claim herein, and fourth assertion of ineffective assistance by his trial counsel, does not satisfy either prong of Strickland and does not warrant federal habeas corpus relief.
5. Defense Counsel’s Punishment Phase Closing Argument
Petitioner argues that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by making numerous disparaging statements concerning petitioner during the course of closing argument at the punishment phase of trial.351
*537a. No Deficient Performance
A careful review of the entire closing argument presented by petitioner’s 1989 defense counsel at the punishment phase of trial establishes that the argument about which petitioner now complains was far from professionally deficient or objectively unreasonable.352 Attorney Terry McDonald testified during the July, 1995, evidentiary hearing held in petitioner’s most recent state habeas corpus proceeding that he made the statements critical of the petitioner’s actions for the strategic purpose of establishing some degree of credibility with the jury after the “devastating” testimony by petitioner’s Florida victim regarding the petitioner’s assault, robbery, and sexual assault of her.353 Petitioner’s co-counsel, attorney Raymund Fuchs testified during that same hearing that he and attorney McDonald had prepared thoroughly for trial and were not surprised by any of the evidence introduced at trial but that they were surprised by the impact of that same testimony at the punishment phase of trial.354 “[Cjounsel may make strategic decisions to acknowledge the defendánt’s culpability and may even concede that *538the jury would be justified in imposing the death penalty, in order to establish credibility with the jury.”355
This ease provides a convincing illustration of why great judicial deference is necessary in the review of trial counsel’s strategic decision-making. At the time of petitioner’s 1989 trial, his two defense counsel were experienced trial lawyers who had both prosecuted and defended numerous criminal eases, including capital murder cases.356 Unlike this Court, petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel had the opportunity to witness firsthand not only the testimony of the various witnesses at trial but also the impact that testimony and the other evidence had upon the jury. Both of petitioner’s trial counsel found the petitioner’s Florida victim’s graphic testimony regarding the petitioner’s post-escape crimes to have been very significant — not only for its content but also for the impact that testimony had upon the jury. The evidence at the punishment phase of petitioner’s trial established that the petitioner had pleaded guilty to four separate felony criminal charges arising out of his assault, robbery, and sexual assaults upon his Florida victim.357 Given the petitioner’s guilty pleas to the Florida offenses, the heinous nature of those crimes, and the tremendous impact that petitioner’s trial counsel perceived that evidence had on petitioner’s jury, the decision by petitioner’s trial counsel to acknowledge the violent, reprehensible, nature of petitioner’s criminal conduct in an effort to gain some degree of rapport with the jury did not fall outside the broad range of objectively reasonable, professionally competent assistance.
Petitioner’s trial counsel admitted the petitioner had done some horrible things and that the natural inclination of many persons would be to lash out at the petitioner. However, said counsel also emphasized that (1) the jurors had each taken an oath to decide the case based on the law, (2) the law required them to focus on the special issues before them, (3) the evidence showed that the petitioner had twice spared the lives of his rape victims and was thus not completely without positive virtues, (4) the evidence regarding the petitioner’s “deliberateness” in connection with the murder of Joey Hernandez was weak, (5) it was Manuel Villanueva who had actually killed Joey Hernandez, and (6) voting to take the petitioner’s life would reduce them to the same level as that of the petitioner and Villanueva.358 Given the evidence then before the petitioner's jury, the decision to acknowledge the weighty evidence regarding the heinous nature of the petitioner’s crimes and the petitioner’s capacity for violence was well within the realm of reasonable, professionally competent performance at petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel.359
b. No Prejudice
The horrific details of petitioner’s Florida crimes were presented to the petitioner’s 1989 jury with “devastating” effect by the victim of those heinous offenses. The other *539evidence before the petitioner’s jury at the punishment phase of his 1989 trial included the details of the petitioner’s joint assault with Villanueva upon an unarmed Joey Hernandez, the petitioner’s brutal robbery and rape of Cynthia West, the petitioner’s repeated acts of violence and impropriety while incarcerated, the petitioner attempted escape from a Florida County Jail, and the petitioner’s escape from a fourth-floor Bexar County Jail cell. This evidence was itself far more damaging and “prejudicial” to petitioner’s chances of getting a negative jury answer to either of the two special sentencing issues than anything attorney McDonald said or could have said in his closing arguments.
In a capital sentencing proceeding, the prejudice analysis focuses on whether there is a reasonable probability that, absent counsel’s errors, a life sentence would have been imposed.360 The fact that attorney McDonald chose to acknowledge the obviously damaging nature of the prosecution’s evidence did not prejudice the petitioner within the meaning of Strickland. There is simply no reasonable probability that, but for attorney McDonald’s comments recognizing that the petitioner had committed multiple aggravated sexual assaults, displayed a strong propensity for future violence, been the product of a difficult childhood, and been written off by society at the age of 11, the outcome of the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial would have been any different. Attorney McDonald’s recognition of petitioner’s bad acts and the natural human impulse to condemn such acts was coupled with appeals for both reliance on the rule of law and mercy. He emphasized that Villanueva had received a life sentence for what attorney McDonald characterized as a more significant role in the murder of Joey Hernandez and appealed to the jury’s sense of the inherent unfairness of condemning petitioner when Villanueva had escaped the executioner. The strategic decision by attorney McDonald to acknowledge the many negative aspects of the evidence then before the jury added little to the impact that evidence obviously made upon the jury. There is no reasonable probability that, but for attorney McDonald’s uncomplimentary statements about petitioner during closing argument, the outcome of the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial would have been different. Nor did the strategic decision by attorney McDonald to make those concessions render petitioner’s 1989 trial fundamentally unfair or the result thereof unreliable. The compelling evidence supporting the jury’s affirmative answers to the two special sentencing issues was not rendered any. more overwhelming by attorney McDonald’s observations.361
Accordingly, the petitioner’s séventh claim herein, and fifth assertion of ineffective assistance by his trial counsel, does not satisfy either prong of Strickland and does not warrant federal habeas corpus relief.
6. Failure to Seek and Obtain Discovery Re the Reasons Why Villanueva Received a Life Sentence
In his final assertion of ineffective assistance, petitioner argues that his trial counsel should have (1) more fiilly investigated the Villanueva’s mental health records and the reasons why Villanueva had received a life sentence and (2) used that information to impeach Sam Ponder’s testimony regarding same.362 As explained above in Section VIII, in connection with petitioner’s Brady claim, after the defense called Villanueva to testify at the punishment phase of petitioner’s 1989 trial, the prosecution called as a rebuttal witness Sam Ponder, the Assistant Bexar County District Attorney who had prosecuted Villanueva. Ponder testified that (1) he recalled that Villanueva had the mental capacity of a seven-year-old, (2) he concluded from his review of the evidence that Villa*540nueva was not capable of an original thought, (3) he believed that Villanueva had acted at the petitioner’s direction during the killing of Joey Hernandez, and (4) while Villanueva had been found competent to stand trial, he did not believe it was appropriate to execute a person who suffered from as debilitating a mental impairment as Villanueva’s.363 Petitioner points to testimony given by Dr. John C. Sparks at the state habeas hearing which indicated that on some mental examinations Villanueva had tested well above the seven-year-old level of intellectual functioning cited by Ponder.364 Petitioner argues that his 1989 trial counsel should have secured Villanueva’s mental health records and used the information contained therein to impeach Ponder with regard to Ponder’s erroneous perception of the degree of mental impairment suffered by Villanueva.
a. No Deficient Performance
The first problem with petitioner’s complaints about this aspect of his 1989 trial counsel’s performance is that both of petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel testified at the July, 1995, state habeas hearing that, although they could not specifically recall looking at the copies of Villanueva’s mental health records filed in Villanueva’s criminal case, they had obtained access to Villanueva’s criminal case file.365 It was established at that same evidentiary hearing that copies of all of Villanueva’s mental health records had been filed as public records in Villanueva’s state criminal case file several years prior to petitioner’s 1989 trial.366 Thus, petitioner has not presented this Court with any specific factual allegations showing that his trial counsel were unaware of the mental health records regarding Villanueva.
The second problem with petitioner’s complaints of ineffective assistance regarding the impeachment of Ponder is that both of petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel testified at the state habeas hearing that they believed that Ponder’s reasons for choosing not to seek the death penalty for Villanueva were irrelevant to their efforts to seek a life sentence for petitioner. Attorney Fuchs testified that (1) their strategy was to raise a moral issue regarding the fairness of imposing a death sentence on petitioner after Villanueva had received a life sentence, (2) Villanueva’s precise mental age or level of intellectual functioning was not relevant to the thrust of their fairness argument, (3) the wisdom or error in Ponder’s decision not to seek the death penalty for Villanueva was irrelevant to their fairness argument, (4) detailed information showing that Villanueva was functioning intellectually above the level indicated by Ponder during his testimony would not have helped them obtain a life sentence for petitioner, (5) impeaching Ponder regarding his reasoning in deciding not to seek a death *541sentence for Villanueva would not have helped petitioner’s chances of obtaining a life sentence, and (6) Villanueva’s sentence was relevant only insofar as they could use that sentence as a basis for their fairness argument.367 Attorney McDonald testified that (1) their main goal at the punishment phase of trial was to show the unfairness of imposing different sentences on Villanueva and petitioner, not to show that Ponder had made a mistake in deciding not to seek the death sentence for Villanueva, (2) the reasons why Ponder had made his decision were irrelevant to petitioner’s sentence, and (3) only the fact that Villanueva had received a life sentence was relevant to their efforts to secure the same sentence for petitioner.368 Thus, petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel had legitimate, strategic reasons for choosing not to impeach Ponder regarding his reasons for not seeking a death sentence for Villanueva. When a trial counsel’s decision not to pursue further investigation into a potential defense or into an area of potential mitigating evidence is based on investigation and consultation with the defendant which leads the attorney to believe that further investigation would be fruitless, that decision may not be challenged as unreasonable.369 An attorney’s strategic choices, usually based on information supplied by the defendant and from a thorough investigation of relevant facts and law are virtually unchallengeable.370 The extent of an attorney’s investigation into an area must be viewed in the context of the defendant’s cooperation with the attorney's investigation and with a heavy measure of deference to counsel’s judgments.371 Therefore, the alleged failure of petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel to adequately investigate Villanueva’s mental health and juvenile record did not cause the performance of said counsel to fall below an objective level of reasonableness.
The third problem with petitioner’s complaints about his 1989 trial counsel’s failure to impeach Ponder is that the evidence in question was far from precise regarding the exact level of Villanueva’s intellectual functioning. Dr. Sparks testified that these records showed the petitioner had functioned within a range of ages eight to thirteen on several tests of verbal and intellectual skill.372 Dr. Sparks also testified, however, that there were indications in those same records that Villanueva was functioning barely above the mentally retarded range on many tests and some indications that Villanueva had displayed a seven or eight-year-old level of functioning on written tests.373 Insofar as petitioner now claims his trial counsel should have used Villanueva’s mental health records to impeach Ponder, any such impeachment *542would have been limited to criticizing Ponder’s recollection, many years after the fact, of the precise level of Villanueva’s intellectual functioning. Even if Villanueva had been functioning well above the “seven-year-old” level, contrary to what Ponder had testified, there was no dispute that Villanueva was functioning significantly below his actual physical age. Thus, the impeachment value of the evidence summarized by Dr. Sparks would have been very meager, at best.
Given the foregoing, especially defense counsels’ trial strategy underlying the introduction of evidence of Villanueva’s life sentence, the decision by petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel not to use the public records regarding Villanueva’s mental examinations to impeach Ponder did not cause the performance of said counsel to fall below an objective level of reasonableness. On the contrary, as the testimony of those same attorneys makes clear, their tactical focus was on the inherent unfairness of sentencing petitioner to death while Villanueva, whom they contended delivered the fatal blow, had received a life sentence. The decision not to attempt to impeach Ponder was as rational and reasonable tactical decision consistent with their trial strategy.
b. No Prejudice
Petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel did not “prejudice” petitioner within the meaning of Strickland by failing to impeaching Sam Ponder as to his reasons for showing mercy toward Villanueva. In a capital sentencing proceeding, the prejudice analysis focuses on whether there is a reasonable probability that, absent counsel’s errors, a life sentence would have been imposed.374 Petitioner has not alleged any facts showing that, but for the failure of his trial counsel to impeach Ponder, the outcome of the punishment phase of petitioner’s trial would have been any different. On the contrary, any effort to impeach Ponder regarding his reasons for choosing not to seek the death sentence for Villanueva could have undermined the premise supporting petitioner’s trial counsel’s “fairness” argument.
If, as petitioner now contends, Ponder’s decision to not seek the death sentence for Villanueva was based on Ponder’s erroneous perception of both Villanueva’s role in the offense and Villanueva’s level of intellectual functioning, the prosecution could have used that information to argue during the petitioner’s sentencing proceeding that Villanueva’s life sentence was a clear error and that the jury should not allow petitioner to benefit from such a travesty of justice. It is conceivable that evidence showing that Villanueva had benefitted from an erroneous decision by Ponder not to seek a death sentence might have offended or antagonized petitioner’s jury and made them more likely to impose the death sentence upon petitioner. As the very least, evidence indicating that Ponder had mistakenly shown mercy toward Villanueva would have undermined the efforts of petitioner’s trial counsel to encourage the petitioner’s jury to show similar mercy toward petitioner. Thus, there were sound, strategic reasons why petitioner’s 1989 trial counsel chose not to challenge the reasons behind Ponder’s decision to show mercy toward Villanueva. Petitioner was not prejudiced by the failure of his 1989 trial counsel to impeach Ponder regarding his rationale for not seeking a death sentence for Villanueva. Impeaching Ponder on those grounds would not have enhanced petitioner’s chances of obtaining a life sentence.
Accordingly, the petitioner’s tenth claim herein, and sixth assertion of ineffective assistance by his trial counsel, does not satisfy either prong of Strickland and does not warrant federal habeas corpus relief.
XI. Cumulative Error
In his thirteenth and final claim for relief, petitioner argues that the cumulative effect of the foregoing alleged errors by his trial counsel and the state trial court warrant *543federal habeas relief.375 However, federal habeas corpus relief may only be granted for cumulative errors in the conduct of a state trial where (1) the individual errors involved matters of constitutional dimension rather than mere violations of state law; (2) the errors were not proeedurally defaulted for habeas purposes; and (3) the errors so infected the entire trial that the resulting conviction violates due process.376 The cumulative error doctrine provides relief only when the constitutional errors committed in the state trial court so fatally infected the trial that they violated the trial’s fundamental fairness.377 Insofar as petitioner asserts a “cumulative error” theory as a separate ground for relief, that argument is foreclosed by the Fifth Circuit’s opinion in Derden v. McNeel378 and its progeny. In order to satisfy the cumulative error rule in the Fifth Circuit, a federal habeas petitioner must show that (1) the state trial court actually committed errors, (2) the errors are not proeedurally barred, (3) the errors rise to the level of constitutional deprivations, and (4) the record as a whole reveals that an unfair trial resulted from those errors.379 As this Court’s discussion of the many details of petitioner’s trial set forth at great length above makes clear, none of the alleged errors by the petitioner’s state trial court or alleged deficiencies in the performance of petitioner’s trial counsel identified by petitioner rise to the level of a violation of petitioner’s constitutional rights. This Court independent review of the record of petitioner’s trial, as a whole, reveals that proceeding was not unfair in any constitutional sense. In this case, petitioner attempts to rely upon the collective force and effect of the various alleged errors committed by his state trial court in presiding over petitioner’s capital murder trial as an independent basis for federal habeas relief. However, a petitioner who attempts to cumulate trial court errors that do not rise to the federal constitutional dimension has presented nothing to cumulate.380 As the Fifth Circuit once succinctly put it, “[t]wenty times zero equals zero.”381 For the foregoing reasons, petitioner’s final ground for relief is without merit.
XII. Certifícate of Probable Cause to Appeal
Before an unsuccessful federal habeas corpus petitioner may appeal the denial of his petition, he or she must first obtain a Certificate of Probable Cause to appeal.382 The Fifth Circuit has imposed upon the District Courts the duty to sua sponte address the issue of whether a federal habeas corpus petitioner is entitled to a Certificate of Probable Cause to appeal [“CPC”], even in those instances in which a federal habeas petitioner has not directed a request for a CPC to the District Court.383 For federal habeas petitioners not subject to the *544AEDPA, the Certificate of Probable Cause requirement remains in effect.384 A CPC will not be granted unless the petitioner makes a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.385 To make such a showing, the petitioner need not show that he should prevail on the merits, but rather must demonstrate that the issues are debatable among jurists of reason; that a court could resolve the issues in a different manner; or that the questions are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.386 This Court has painstakingly re-examined all of the pleadings filed by the petitioner herein and has scrutinized each of petitioner’s claims herein, as well as the respondent’s asserted defenses. This Court has denied relief with regard to all of petitioner’s claims, finding in many instances that petitioner’s claims are foreclosed by established Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit precedent and well-settled legal principles.387 Having reviewed petitioner’s claims herein for the purpose of determining whether petitioner qualifies for a CPC, this Court concludes that, despite the length and breadth of petitioner’s claims for relief none of his claims herein makes a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. None of the petitioner’s claims herein are either debatable among jurists of reason, potentially subject to a contrary resolution by a reasonable court in a different manner, or worthy of encouragement to proceed further. Therefore, this Court will deny petitioner a CPC.
Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED that:
1. All relief requested in petitioner’s first amended petition for federal habeas corpus relief,388 as supplemented by petitioner’s response to respondent’s motion for summary judgment,389 is DENIED.
2. All other pending motions are DISMISSED AS MOOT.
3. Petitioner is DENIED a Certificate of Probable Cause to appeal.
4. The stay of execution granted by this Court on October 23, 1995390 is VACATED.
5. The Clerk shall prepare and enter a Judgment in conformity with this Memorandum Opinion and Order.