This procedural default precludes this Court from considering the merits of Petitioner's federal habeas claim, unless Petitioner can show cause and prejudice for the default.

—non-compliance with a state procedural rule bars federal habeas corpus review, absent showing of cause and prejudice

If the state court decides a claim on an independent and adequate state ground, such as a procedural rule prohibiting the state court from reaching the merits of the constitutional claim, a petitioner ordinarily is barred from seeking federal habeas review.

If a federal habeas petitioner can show both (1) " `cause'for noncompliance with the state rule "and (2)" `actual prejudice resulting from the alleged constitutional violation [,], "the federal court may consider the claim.

If a state prisoner procedurally defaults on a claim in state court, a federal court will not review the claim unless the state prisoner shows cause for the procedural default and actual prejudice from it, or that "failure to consider the claims will result in a fundamental miscarriage of justice."

T] he state trial on the merits [should be] the `main event,'so to speak, rather than a `tryout on the road'for what will later be the determinative federal habeas hearing

That is, a petitioner may not raise on federal habeas a federal constitutional rights claim he could not raise in state court because of procedural default.

A habeas petitioner can overcome a procedural default by showing both cause for failing to abide by state procedural rules and a resulting prejudice from that failure.

Further, in Section 2255 proceedings, the Supreme Court has recognized the rule of "procedural default:[that prisoners] cannot assert claims they failed to raise at trial or on direct appeal unless they can show `cause'for the default and `prejudice'resulting from it. "

When a petitioner's claim is denied in state court "due to a state procedural rule that prevents the state courts from reaching the merits of the petitioner's claim, that claim is procedurally defaulted and may not be considered by the federal court on habeas review."