Linroy Davis v. Louis B. Heyd, Sheriff

(dissenting) :

I respectfully dissent.

It is to be regretted, I think, that in this collateral attack on a Louisiana manslaughter conviction the majority opinion is likely to have far-reaching future consequences for the federal courts in this Circuit.

*455The majority opinion quite correctly states that under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) factfindings by a state court are as a general rule presumptively valid.

It then proceeds to knock a great hole in the statute by holding that an appraisal of asserted factual inconsistencies in the case now before us is a question of law not of fact. In my view this puts us…