John W. Drake v. Richard Clark and Indiana Attorney General

COFFEY, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner-appellant, John W. Drake, appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Drake was convicted of murdering Ruth Heaton, an elderly woman found dead on April 8, 1977, in Anderson, Indiana. The police originally suspected Michael Cox, the victim’s handyman, of the crime because Cox had taken the victim to lunch on the day of the murder and had deposited an $11,000 forged check drawn on her bank account into his own. Further investigation, however, convinced the police that Cox was not the…