Mark Wesley Watson v. Richard L. Dugger

RONEY, Senior Circuit Judge:

Mark Wesley Watson appeals the denial of habeas corpus relief from his conviction for sexual battery in Florida, the issue at trial being consent. He contends that his constitutional rights were violated because the trial court did not require the State to prove each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt when it failed to instruct the jury that the circumstances must show that either the victim “effectively communicated her refusal” to the defendant, or that he “should reasonably have known that” the victim was refusing. The state court gave the standard…