Earl Edward Thompson v. David Scurr, Warden, Iowa State Penitentiary

ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

Earl Edward Thompson was convicted of first-degree murder in 1961 after a plea of guilty in the District Court of Dallas County, Iowa. There was no appeal. In 1965 Thompson filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Iowa state courts. This petition and four subsequent state-court petitions filed between 1965 and 1976 were denied. Thompson then filed a petition for habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. In 1979, after appointment of counsel, the case was referred to a United States Magistrate pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §…