George P. McLaughlin v. Douglas Vinzant, Superintendent, Etc.

LEVIN H. CAMPBELL, Circuit Judge.

In 1965, following a jury trial in the Massachusetts Superior Court, appellant George P. McLaughlin was convicted of murder in the first degree and of unlawfully carrying a firearm. The judgment was subsequently affirmed upon direct review in the Supreme Judicial Court. Commonwealth v. McLaughlin, 352 Mass. 218, 224 N.E.2d 444, cert. denied sub nom., McLaughlin v. Massachusetts, 389 U.S. 916, 88 S.Ct. 250, 19 L.Ed.2d 268 (1967), and McLaughlin later filed a motion for a new trial. While his appeal from the trial court’s denial of this motion was pending in the…