Smith v. Tyson

Issues: (1) Whether the review required under Section 2254 of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 and Cullen v. Pinholster is violated by reliance upon a “some ambiguity” standard utilized by the U.S. Court of Appeals of the 3rd Circuit to find a due process violation without affording the required benefit of the doubt to both defense counsel and the trial court; (2) whether the 3rd Circuit's decision granting habeas relief on the basis of alleged erroneous jury instructions in a state accomplice murder trial err by failing to apply the Supreme Court’s own precedent in Waddington v. Sarasaud; and (3) whether, by ignoring whole sections of the trial court’s charge to the jury with respect to accomplice liability and failing to view it in the context of the trial record, the 3rd Circuit erred in concluding that there exists a substantial and not just a conceivable likelihood of a different result.