Graves v. Ault

HANSEN, Circuit Judge.

John Graves was convicted of first degree murder in January 2001. His conviction was affirmed by the Iowa Court of Appeals. He was later denied postconviction relief, and that decision was also affirmed by the Iowa Court of Appeals. Graves then petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court, arguing that his counsel was ineffective for (1) failing to obtain a toxicology expert to test and explicate the results of a blood sample Graves submitted hours after the murder, (2) failing to object to prosecutorial misconduct that occurred during the State’s…