Roscoe Cotton v. Bill Armontrout, Acting Warden and John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the State of Missouri

HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge.

Roscoe Cotton appeals from the district court’s1 denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. He was convicted of first degree assault on the basis of eyewitness testimony, and is serving a life sentence as a persistent offender. His conviction was affirmed in State v. Cotton, 660 S.W.2d 365 (Mo.App.1983). Cotton argues that the identification testimony of the witnesses at trial should have been suppressed because the pretrial identification procedures were suggestive and created a substantial likelihood of misidentification. He also argues that the state…