Melvin J. Bonner v. C. Murray Henderson, Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary

Appellant, represented by court-appointed counsel, was convicted by a jury of murder. He was sentenced on December 2, 1966, to life imprisonment. The conviction was affirmed in State v. Bonner, 1968, 252 La. 200, 210 So.2d 319. Habeas petitions were denied by the trial court on July 29, 1974, and by the Louisiana Supreme Court on September 13, 1974.

In his habeas petition filed below, appellant alleged (1) he was not afforded a full appeal in that during trial, counsel preserved twenty bills of exception, but argued only three on appeal; (2) the trial judge failed to instruct the jury that it…