[U] Ferguson V. Williams

This habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1994), challenging the incarceration of a New Mexico state prisoner for a rape, kidnap, and burglary conviction, presents the question of whether a state prosecutors clearly improper comments during closing arguments so fundamentally infected the fairness of the petitioners trial that the state of New Mexico is constitutionally obliged to give him a new trial. Although we are disturbed by the prosecutors conduct in this case, we conclude that the petitioner is not entitled, as a matter of constitutional right, to a new trial, and as a result we affirm the district courts dismissal of the petition for a writ of habeas corpus.