Rhoades

Paul Ezra Rhoades appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. He was convicted following entry of a conditional Alford plea for the 1987 second-degree murder and robbery of Nolan Haddon. He received two indeterminate life sentences. The Idaho Supreme Court upheld his conviction, sentence, and denial of post-conviction relief. See State v. Rhoades (Haddon), 119 Idaho 594 , 809 P.2d 455 (1991). We affirm the district court’s judgment.

I

Nolan Haddon worked the night shift at Buck’s convenience store in Idaho Falls, Idaho on March 16, 1987. The next morning, Buck’s owner found Haddon lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He had been shot five times. He was still alive at the time, but unconscious. He died at the hospital. An inventory of the store showed that some BIC lighters, Marlboro cigarettes, and $116 in cash were missing.

The police suspected Rhoades of a string of burglaries, including one at Lavaunda’s Lingerie, and obtained a warrant to arrest Rhoades for that burglary on March 23, 1987. They learned that he was in Nevada when, on March 24, a Nevada state trooper responded to an accident involving a green Ford that was reported stolen…