Neeley v. United States

OPINION AND JUDGMENT

DALTON, District Judge.

James Francis Neeley was convicted by a jury in this Court on July 13, 1972 of two separate offenses of bank robbery. This Court pronounced judgment to be fifteen (15) years for each offense, sentences to run concurrently and to be served in the federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia. Petitioner appealed this verdict directly to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals alleging that testimony of his former and current wives should have been excluded under Virginia statutory rules. The Fourth Circuit held that where the defendant never divorced his third wife,…