United States of America Ex Rel. Stanley Howard v. Harry E. Russell, Superintendent, State Correctional Institution, Huntingdon, Pa

OPINION OF THE COURT

In the instant case, the relator Howard killed an instructor in the State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 12, 1965. Following his entry of a plea of guilty generally to a murder indictment, he was adjudged guilty of murder in the first degree by a Pennsylvania court and sentenced to death. He appealed to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, contending, inter alia, (1) he had a history of mental illness and was mentally ill at the time of the killing, and the sentencing court had not considered his mental illness in fixing the degree of…