Norman J. Johnson v. Clarence Trigg

POSNER, Chief Judge.

The district judge in this habeas corpus proceeding held, on the basis of the record of the criminal proceeding in state court, that Norman Johnson’s robbery conviction, upheld in Johnson v. State, 513 N.E.2d 650 (Ind.1987), had been based on a coerced confession. She ordered the State of Indiana either to release or retry him. 839 F.Supp. 571 (S.D.Ind.1993). The facts, at least as narrated by the district judge (a potentially important qualification), are indeed suggestive of a grave abuse of power by law enforcement authorities. A 14-year-old boy of below-average…