David Stidum v. Myrna Trickey

BEAM, Circuit Judge.

David Stidum challenges the district court’s 1 denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Stidum was charged in the Circuit Court of St. Louis, Missouri, with second-degree murder. On July 21, 1983, Stidum’s counsel made an oral pre-trial motion to suppress statements made by the victim, James Hall. Stidum’s counsel maintained that the statements were hearsay utterances, not admissible under any evidentiary exception. The trial judge convened a hearing on the motion.

At the hearing, police officer Alfred Adkins testified that, several minutes…