United States of America Ex Rel. Silvio De Vita v. Lloyd W. McCorkle Principal Keeper of the New Jersey State Prison at Trenton, New Jersey

De Vita, found guilty of murder in connection with an armed robbery in New Jersey, petitioned the court below for a writ of habeas corpus alleging that he had been denied due process of law, as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, by the State Tribunals. Specifically he alleges that one of the jurors who sat in this case was not an impartial or indifferent person as required by law. He is under sentence of death, to be executed in the week commencing August 15th, 1954.

The court below by Judge Modarelli denied the relief sought by De Vita but nonetheless granted a certificate of probable…