Ashe v. United States Ex Rel. Valotta

delivéred the opinion of the Court.

This is an appeal from an order on a writ of habeas corpus discharging the relator, Valotta, from the custody of the appellant by whom he was held under a sentence of death. Valotta shot a man in a street brawl — we will assume, in circumstances that suggest considerable excuse — and then killed a policeman who pursued him, within a short distance from the first act. He was indicted separately for the murder of each man, tried in a Court of Pennsylvania, found guilty of murder in the second degree for the first killing and guilty of murder in the first…