Willie Earl Lipscomb v. W. J. Estelle, Jr., Director, Texas Department of Corrections

A state court jury convicted Willie Earl Lipscomb of robbery by assault. The jury assessed imprisonment for thirty five years. The complaining witness in the case was accosted at gunpoint by a number of youths, including Lipscomb. She and a male companion were forced into the rear of her car. They were driven to a barren area in Dallas County, where she was raped and her companion shot, so that he died the next day. The car was taken by the youths and subsequently found abandoned.

On direct appeal, Lipscomb’s convic.tion was affirmed, Lipscomb v. State, Tex.Cr.App.1971, 467 S.W.2d 417.

Lipscomb…