Joe Smith v. United States

Joe Smith appeals from his perjury conviction in United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. The charge arose out of events that occurred during a habeas-corpus hearing in the same district court in which appellant alleged that he was not represented by counsel when he entered a guilty plea in state court to the charges of burglary and assault with intent to murder. The judge and prosecutor in the state court testified that he was represented by counsel, and a lawyer named W. T. Starnes said that he acted as Smith’s attorney by court appointment. This testimony formed the…