James Edward Antwine v. W. J. Estelle, Director, Tdc

Appellant Antwine received a jury trial where he was represented by counsel and was found guilty of murder with malice. He was sentenced in May of 1971, to death. Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Branch v. Texas, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972), which outlawed the death penalty as it was then imposed in Texas, Ant-wine’s sentence was commuted by the Governor of Texas to life imprisonment. Antwine petitioned the district court below seeking habeas relief and an injunction to stay all state court proceedings until a federal determination could be made as to whether…