United States of America Ex Rel. Leon E. West v. J. Edwin Lavallee, Warden of Clinton Prison, Dannemora, New York

In this habeas corpus proceeding, relator, a state prisoner held pursuant to a judgment of conviction of the Albany County Court of the crime of possession of narcotics with intent to sell, alleged that illegally seized evidence was introduced at his trial and that a confession obtained under duress was used against him, in violation of his rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The court below dismissed the writ without a hearing.

Petitioner’s trial was held in October; 1959, and he appealed to the Appellate Division, Third Department. After the decision in Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81…