United States ex rel. Sheffield v. Waller

DAWKINS, Jr., Chief Judge.

Presented here by an application for habeas corpus, we have for decision the question of whether due process of law was done, under the Federal Constitution, in a State court conviction of murder. Jurisdiction exists.1

On June 14, 1953, John L. Waller, a deputy sheriff in Franklin Parish, Louisiana, acting in line of duty, was killed instantly by a shotgun blast. Nineteen days later Joseph Sheffield, relator herein, stood convicted of the crime in the State District Court, and was sentenced to death in the electric chair. In that brief interval he had been indicted,…