Thompkins v. Cohen

POSNER, Circuit Judge. In 1977 a jury in an Indiana state court convicted Douglas Thompkins of first-degree murder. The Judge sentenced him to life in prison. The supreme court of the state affirmed the conviction and sentence. Thompkins v. State, 270 Ind. 163, 383 N.E.2d 347 (1978). After exhausting his state remedies, Thompkins sought federal habeas corpus. He appeals from the district court's denial of his claim for relief. Three masked men robbed a restaurant. During the course of the robbery one of them killed a customer. Another cut his hand in the escape. One turned state's evidence and testified that Thompkins had been one of the band. This testimony was corroborated by a friend of Thompkins', who testified that he had seen Thompkins after the robbery with his hand bandaged and carrying a gun, and by evidence that the blood found in the getaway car was of the same blood type as Thompkins', while the blood of the other robbers, and also of the murdered customer, was of a different type. Thompkins introduced alibi evidence.