Does a claim that a state court failed to follow its own state law in regard to jury instructions given at trial invoke a federal habeas corpus?

Federal habeas corpus relief does not lie for errors of state law; and a claim that a state court failed to follow its own state law in regard to jury instructions given at trial does not necessarily invoke a federal constitutional question. See Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 71-72 (1991). In order to warrant federal habeas relief, a challenged jury instruction must violate due

Page 27

process to the extent that "'the ailing instruction by itself so infected the entire trial that the resulting conviction violates due process.'" Id. (quoting Cupp v. Naughten, 414 U.S. 141, 147 (1973)).