United States ex rel. Valotta v. Ashe

THOMSON, District Judge.

I approach the decision of this case with a full appreciation of the importance of the issue involved—the right. of the state, on the one hand, to insist that the prosecution and punishment of offenders against her laws be in no manner impeded or denied, and the right of the- citizen, on the other, to insist that his life he not taken away, except by due process of law. From the final judgment of a sovereign state, condemning him to death, a citizen of the United States, humble in birth and station, through the ancient writ of habeas corpus, appeals to the supreme law…