United States of America Ex Rel. Adolph Kulikauskas, Relator-Appellant v. Robert E. Murphy, Warden of the State Prison at Auburn, New York

FRIENDLY, Circuit Judge.

Adolph Kulikauskas, convicted in Queens County Court in 1947 of rape, kidnapping and assault with respect to two women, petitioned the District Court for the Northern District of New York for a writ of habeas corpus in 1959. He alleged that, in violation of rights guaranteed him by the Fourteenth Amendment, coerced confessions had been received at his trial, the jury had been wrongly charged as to the issue of coercion, and the alleged refusal of the committing magistrate to assign counsel or permit petitioner to speak at the magistrate’s hearing had prejudiced…