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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND DAGMAR E. JENSON, Petitioner v. * MARSHA MALOFF, et al., Respondents * *** MEMORANDUM Now before the court is the amended petition of Dagmar E. Jenson for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 2254 (Paper Nos. 1 and 19), the state's answer thereto (Paper Nos. 13 and 22), and petitioner's replies. (Paper Nos. 16 and 33). The briefing has been fully considered and no hearing is needed. See Rule 8(a), Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts; see also 28 U.S.C. Section 2254(e)((2). For the reasons that follow, the petition will be dismissed with prejudice. PROCEDURAL HISTORY Petitioner was indicted on April 21, 1997, in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County for first degree murder and handgun offenses. After a four-day jury trial presided over by the Honorable Alfred Brennan, petitioner was convicted. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals summarized the evidence as follows in its opinion affirming the convictions: Theodore Daniels was 57 years old, six feet tall, and weighed approximately 170 pounds at the time of his death; appellant was 48 years old, five feet four inches tall, and weighed 140 pounds. Daniels was self-employed at the time of his death and operated an insurance business called Prepaid * * CIVIL ACTION NO. AMD-04-781

Legal Services, as well as other businesses. Appellant was associated with Daniels in his Prepaid Legal Services business. The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration listed Daniels's residence as a home he owned with his wife in Woodlawn. At the time of his death, however, Daniels was living with a girlfriend in Sparks, Maryland. He also maintained a residence at 5312 Wayne Avenue near his Woodlawn, Baltimore County, office. Appellant lived in a row home in Baltimore City; she shared the home with a man who rented the top floor from her. Appellant first met Daniels in November 1996 while she was exploring the possibility of joining his Prepaid Legal Services operation. By the first or second week of January 1997, their relationship became sexual. Daniels told appellant that he was still married but had been separated from his wife for approximately twenty years. Appellant asked Daniels repeatedly about where he lived, but he evaded these questions by telling her that if she were patient she would eventually see where he lived. Daniels once took her to his house on Wayne Avenue, but this visit did not allay her suspicions that he actually lived elsewhere. Daniels never told appellant about his residence in Sparks, Maryland. Russell Johnson, a business associate of Daniels, testified that he had known Daniels for over thirty years and that he and Daniels had started the Prepaid Legal Services business together. Through the business, Johnson met appellant. Appellant told Johnson that she was having a personal as well as a business relationship with Daniels and that she was dissatisfied with information that Daniels was giving her regarding his personal life. Especially annoying to Ms. Jensen was the fact that Daniels would not tell her where he lived. Appellant telephoned Johnson on multiple occasions to ask him if he had seen Daniels, had any contact with him, or knew, why Daniels had not called or seen her. Johnson learned of a disagreement between appellant and Daniels that occurred on Sunday, February 16, 1997, which was two days prior to Daniels' death. On that date, Daniels asked Johnson to fill in for him on a radio program that the two hosted to promote their Prepaid Legal Services business. Daniels told Johnson that he was with appellant at the time and that the two were "trying to work out some things." * *
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Daniels' corpse was found in his business office located on the second floor of a two-story office building at 2133 Gwynn Oak Avenue in Woodlawn, Maryland. The building contained five separate businesses. The first floor housed a motorcycle shop and the Woodlawn Beauty Salon. These businesses had no direct access to the second floor of the building. Daniels's Prepaid Legal Services office, a civil process serving business, and the Something Sassy Hair Salon occupied the second floor. Access to the second story was limited to two entrances, one at street level at the front of the building and another at the top of a set of outdoor metal stairs located at the rear of the building. Both the front and rear entrances to the second floor had doors with deadbolt locks that required a key to unlock. One key operated both locks. Appellant did not have a key to the locks. The front entrance to the building opened into a hallway that contained stairs leading to the second floor. The rear entrance was located next to a landing a top a metal staircase that led down to a parking lot behind the office building. The rear entrance had two doors

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Maryland Law