Summary
In Johnson, supra, where the prosecutor's only evidence of guilt was a confession and re-enactment of the crime by a defendant with a 7th grade education when in custody and without counsel and the jury was informed, prior to returning its guilty verdict and sentence of life imprisonment, of a prior conviction for an offense involving facts with "a striking similarity to the methods used in the present case" (p. 698 of 243 F. Supp.), the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the grant of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, relying on Spencer, supra.
Summary of this case from United States ex Rel. Bolish v. MaroneyOpinion
No. 14.
Decided February 13, 1967.
Certiorari granted; 349 F.2d 416, reversed and remanded.
Frank P. Lawley, Jr., for petitioner.
Leonard J. D. Myers for respondent.
The motion of respondent for leave to proceed in forma pauperis and the petition for a writ of certiorari are granted. The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is reversed, Spencer v. Texas, 385 U.S. 554, and the case is remanded to that court for consideration of the unresolved issues.
MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS dissents from the reversal of the Court of Appeals in United States v. Rundle, 349 F.2d 416, which affirmed United States v. Rundle, 243 F. Supp. 695, 700, where the District Court granted the petition for habeas corpus since the introduction of the accused's "prior criminal record for obstructing a railroad was so fundamentally unfair as to deny him due process of law."