Reeves v. Reed

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER

McMILLAN, District Judge.

James Franklin Reeves, petitioner, present age sixty-eight, was tried in the Superior Court of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, on a charge of second degree murder, was convicted by a jury on January 16, 1976, of voluntary manslaughter, and was sentenced to prison.

Reeves, now in prison, seeks habeas corpus relief, contending that he was deprived of due process of law by the court’s instruction to- the jury that “the law implies” unlawfulness and malice if intentional shooting with a deadly weapon is shown. Since intentional shooting…