Terrick Terrell Nooner v. Larry Norris, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction

WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

Terrick Terrell Nooner appeals from the district court’s dismissal of his petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The district court found Nooner competent to withdraw his petition and, in the alternative, held that Nooner’s substantive claims were without merit. Although we conclude that the district court erred in finding that Nooner’s motion to dismiss his petition was knowing and voluntary, we affirm the rejection of the petition on the merits.1

I

Scot Stobaugh, a college student, was washing clothes at a Little Rock laundromat at approximately 1:30…