Owens v. Duncan

Dist. Ct. erred in denying defendant’s habeas petition that challenged his murder conviction on ground that state-court judge, who found defendant guilty on said charge, based his guilty finding on fact that defendant was aware that victim was drug dealer, where evidence of said fact was not contained in record. Moreover, said error was not harmless, since: (1) no physical evidence linked defendant to murder; (2) identification of defendant as culprit was weak; (3) no evidence indicated that defendant had known victim or had used illegal drugs that were found on victim; and (4) trial judge based guilty verdict only upon his unfounded belief that defendant had known victim as drug dealer and had relied on said knowledge to kill victim.