Winning habeas

Owens v. US, No. 05-1784
Denial of a petition for habeas corpus is reversed in part and remanded for further proceedings where the district court's decision to deny evidentiary hearings was an abuse of discretion since: 1) defendant's allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel were not implausible; 2) closure of jury selection to the public for an entire day without meeting the strict Waller requirements would violate a defendant's right to a public trial; 3) failure to object to such a closure might constitute ineffective assistance of counsel; and 4) denial of a public trial is structural error and prejudice must be assumed. The denial of habeas relief is affirmed on all other points.