Lucien Jules Guidroz v. James A. Lynaugh, Director, Texas Department of Corrections, and Jim Mattox, Attorney General of Texas

THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge:

In this habeas corpus case, the petitioner argues that improper jury argument denied him due process in his state criminal trial. The district court dismissed the petition. We reverse.

I

The undisputed facts are that Lucien Jules Guidroz killed his wife on July 4, 1976 by stabbing her twenty-three times with a knife. His wife’s two sons, who had been in a bedroom with the door closed during the attack, left the house through a window and then called the police. The police found Guidroz underneath two feet of garbage in a trash bin outside the apartment building in…