Charles Edward Owens v. Gregory McLaughlin

WILSON, Circuit Judge:

Charles Edward Owens, a Georgia state prisoner sentenced to life in prison for malice murder, appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition. On appeal, Owens argues that (1) the state trial court’s instructions to the jury on venue, an essential element of the crime charged, improperly shifted the burden of proof from the state to him in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Sandstrom v. Montana, 442 U.S. 510, 99 S.Ct. 2450, 61 L.Ed.2d 39 (1979); and (2) the state trial court’s 25-year delay in resolving his…