John Eldon Smith, or Anthony Isalldo MacHetti v. Charles Balkcom, Warden, Georgia State Prison

JAMES C. HILL, Circuit Judge:

This appeal involves the denial of a petition for writ of habeas corpus made by a Georgia state inmate under sentence of death. Petitioner John Eldon Smith, a/k/a Anthony Isalldo Machetti, was convicted on two counts of murder in the Superior Court of Bibb County, Georgia and on January 30, 1975 was sentenced to die. 1 The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed both his conviction and sentence, Smith v. State, 236 Ga. 12, 222 S.E.2d 308, cert. denied, 428 U.S. 910, 96 S.Ct. 3224, 49 L.Ed.2d 1219 (1976), and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. Smith v.…