David Lee Poynter v. Al. C. Parke, Warden

706 F.2d 777

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• Decided: May 20, 1983
• Docket: 82-5271
• Status: Published

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Appellant Poynter appeals from denial of his habeas corpus petition by a District Judge in the Western District of Kentucky. At trial, before the state court, Poynter had. been convicted on charges of murder and robbery and sentenced to life and 20 year terms respectively.

Poynter’s appeal centers upon his claims: (1) that allegedly coercive police tactics brought to bear on both him and his wife led Poynter to confess his role in the robbery and murder; and (2) that the jury in the state court trial had been improperly instructed.

Poynter’s application for a writ of habeas corpus was heard before Judge Thomas Bal-lantine who wrote a careful opinion rejecting his claims of federal constitutional error in the respects outlined above. We have reviewed Judge Ballantine’s opinion and the record made before him, as well as the memorandum opinion of the Supreme Court of Kentucky in which it rejected essentially the same claims.

For the reasons set forth by Judge Bal-lantine, we affirm his denial of the petition for writ of habeas corpus,