The U.S. Supreme Court has denied certiorari in the Mississippi state-court case of murderer Earl W. Berry, No. 07-7275 and denied the accompanying stay application 07A334.

The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Scalia and by him referred to the Court is denied. The petition for writ of certiorari is denied. The judgment of the Mississippi Supreme Court relies upon an adequate and independent state ground that deprives the Court of jurisdiction.

This was the easier of the two cases. The Fifth Circuit case under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is still pending, with a ruling expected tomorrow.

Lyle Denniston has this post at SCOTUSblog.