Hayward

FACTS

In 1978, Hayward’s girlfriend was out shooting pool on a “girls’ night out,” while he stayed home. While she was out, a man acted abusively toward her. There are varying accounts. It is not clear whether the man slapped Hayward’s girlfriend, or she spat in his face, or he spat in hers, or whether, as Hayward once claimed, the man chased her out into the parking lot, tore off some of her clothes, and tried to rape her. Subsequently, Hayward spent months keeping his eyes open for the man so he could exact revenge.

Several months later, Hayward got a call saying that the man who abused his girlfriend, Tom Strauss (also known as Tom O’Connor), was at the Buccaneer Bar. Hayward enlisted some of his fellow gang members to go with him to the bar because he wanted to “kick his ass.” One of Hayward’s gang knocked Strauss down. Then Hayward stabbed Strauss twelve times in the back, killing him. In 1980, Hayward was sen- tenced to fifteen years to life for murder.

Since completing the first fifteen years of his sentence, Hayward has repeatedly been denied parole. He now petitions 6308 HAYWARD v. MARSHALL for a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that he is…