James Arthur Nixon v. Lanson Newsome

ANDERSON, Circuit Judge:

This case arises on appeal from the denial of a petition for habeas corpus relief brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 by a Georgia state prison inmate, James A. Nixon. Nixon was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The district court denied Nixon’s petition. We reverse.

I. BACKGROUND

Early in the morning of October 30,1979, James A. Nixon drove up to Tom and Kathy Billings’ trailer in Jonesboro, Georgia. Tom Billings let Nixon, with whom he occasionally worked in the carnival games business, into the trailer. After the three were seated, Nixon and Tom…