John v. Carothers v. B. J. Rhay, Superintendent, Washington State Penitentiary

John V. Carothers, a state prisoner, appeals from the district court’s dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Carothers raises five constitutional challenges to his state conviction. We affirm the judgment of the district court, dismissing the petition with respect to one issue, for the reason that petitioner failed to exhaust his state remedies; and, with respect to the other four issues, we affirm the dismissal on the merits.

Proceedings Below

After a jury trial in King County, Washington, Carothers was convicted on two counts of murder in the first degree and one count of robbery. The principal evidence introduced against Carothers was the testimony of one Joseph Lalak, an accomplice to the crimes who was granted immunity from prosecution in return for his testimony. Lalak testified that he accompanied Carothers to the victims’ home for the purpose of committing a burglary, and that Carothers shot and killed the occupants during the course of the burglary. The conviction was affirmed by the Washington Court of Appeals, State v. Carothers, 9 Wash.App. 691 , 514 P.2d 170 (1973), and by the Washington Supreme Court, State v. Carothers, 84 Wash.2d 256 , 525 P.2d…