Robert Flieger v. Paul K. Delo, Superintendent

BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

Robert Elmer Flieger was convicted of murdering Patricia Gradley. He appeals the District Court’s1 denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and we affirm.

I

Gradley and her son lived in an apartment immediately below an apartment in which Flieger lived with his son. Gradley’s father owned the house that contained these apartments; in lieu of rent, Flieger performed a variety of maintenance on the house, including repairs to the trap door that separated the cellar from Gradley’s apartment.

Flieger and Gradley dated for several years until they broke up in December…