People of the United States Ex Rel. John J. Rooney v. Vernon G. Housewright, Warden, Vienna Branch, Illinois Department of Corrections

In this review of the denial of a petition for habeas corpus, we affirm and adopt the Memorandum and Order of Judge Foreman entered on August 19, 1976, to which we add some additional factual and legal comments.1

There is little disagreement about the basic facts which may be briefly summarized.

Late on the night of January 21,1966, the petitioner, Rooney, shot and killed George Harvill in St. Clair County, Illinois, outside the home of Anita Sarro, the former wife of the decedent but then more recently the girl friend of petitioner. After stopping at a tavern, petitioner had driven Mrs. Sarro…