Owens v. Parris, No. 17-5488 (6th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseOwens covered his estranged wife’s nose and mouth with duct tape, hogtied her arms and legs behind her back, and left her alone in a shed to die. A Tennessee jury convicted Owens in 2003 of second-degree murder. The trial judge increased Owens’s sentence to 24 years, based in part on the judge’s finding that a sentencing enhancement was warranted for “exceptional cruelty.” Owens sought federal habeas relief, arguing that the Sixth Amendment required the jury, rather than the judge, to make that finding. The Sixth Circuit denied relief, finding that the state court’s error was harmless. Under Supreme Court precedent, the verdict alone did not authorize Owens’s sentence. There is, however, little doubt that, if asked, the jury would have made the requisite finding that Owens’ actions amounted to “psychological abuse or torture,” and reflected his “calculated indifference toward [her] suffering.”
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