HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Hutchinson man sentenced to 40 years in prison for his involvement in the murder of Joshua Haines was denied any relief from the conviction and sentence.

Anthony Waller was given the sentence by Judge Tim Chambers back in April of 2011 and he filed a Habeas Corpus motion seeking relief in the case.

He alleges in his petition that he didn’t have effective counsel both at trial and at the appellate level. He also claims that the state used perjured testimony and that the judge denied exculpatory evidence at trial.

He was represented in court Thursday by attorney Shannon Crane and she called both his appellate attorney and his trial attorney to the stand.

Rick Roberts was questioned over whether he omitted citing case law in making his arguments over certain alleged trial errors. Roberts says he read the transcripts of the trial, which consisted of over 100 pages, and that he based his brief on things he thought should be considered as error at the appellate level.

Waller also brought up issues he found with the trial strategy by his attorney Carl Maughn and whether some witnesses in the case were on drugs at the time they testified. He believes that two witnesses who were there the night of the murder lied to police and on the stand about his involvement. He believes they were on drugs and at least one had mental issues, but District Attorney Keith Schroeder pointed out that Maughn cross examined both Vasie Coons and Chauncy Grissom thoroughly at trial.

Waller also complained that Maughn didn’t call an expert witness in the case to question the finding of the coroner as to how the victim died. Maughn believed there was no question as to how he died.

Waller claims that he had no bruising or cuts on his hands when he came to see police after the murder and that those pictures should have been shown to the jury, but Schroeder noted that the victim was struck 50 to 100 times and believe it was done with a stick and possibly a mop handle. Plus, he told the court that the pictures of his hands were shown.

There was also discussion over statements made at trial from David Lucas and the fact that the defense didn’t learn of the statements earlier. Lucas was a fellow inmate at the county jail and told police of discussions he had with Waller over the murder.

Maughn told the court he learned of the statements Lucas made to police over Waller’s involvement either during trial or right before. Waller believes he should have known about this interview earlier to have time to prepare. But, the state didn’t even call Lucas to the stand, the defense did. Waller, while on the stand, testified that he didn’t recall his own attorney doing that.

There was also the issue of shoes found on a dog house that the state contends were Waller’s. Waller says they weren’t his, however, his DNA was found inside the shoes with blood of the victim on the outside.

After hearing all these issues raised, Judge Chambers found that, with the issues raised about Roberts omitting some items from his brief, it wouldn’t have changed the decision of the Supreme Court. As for any errors during the trial, Chambers says it wouldn’t have changed the decision of the jury.

The murder case centers on the victim being beaten and strangled in an apartment at 12th & Severance. Waller then bound Haines with duct tape and video game cords before dragging his body out of the apartment. The victim was stuffed into the passenger side of his car and the vehicle was abandoned a few blocks away. All this occurred on April 10, 2010. Waller was upset because he believed Haines had burglarized his apartment weeks earlier. An autopsy revealed that Haines had been struck approximately 70 times and strangled.

Two other suspects in the case are also serving time, that being Jose Delacruz and Vasie Coons. Coons is serving a 12-year sentence, while Delacruz was found not guilty of murder, but was convicted of aggravated robbery and is serving seven years in prison.