In the Matter of the Petition of Edwin Grant Hamilton

Edwin Grant Hamilton, a Montana state prisoner, appeals the district court’s dismissal of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . He contends that the writ should issue because the state trial court erroneously instructed the jury in a homicide case that “[t]he law presumes that a person intends the ordinary consequences of his voluntary acts.” In Sandstrom v. Montana, 442 U.S. 510 , 99 S.Ct. 2450 , 61 L.Ed.2d 39 (1979), the Supreme Court held that this instruction is unconstitutional because it violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s requirement that the State prove every element of a criminal offense beyond a reasonable doubt.

The district court agreed with the Montana Supreme Court that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt and summarily dismissed Hamilton’s habeas petition. Because we conclude that the Sand-strom error cannot be harmless beyond a reasonable doubt if criminal intent is at issue, we reverse and remand this matter to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I

In 1978, Hamilton was convicted in Montana state court of mitigated deliberate homicide of his mother, Mabel Johnson, in violation of…