United States ex rel. Burt v. New Jersey

OPINION OF THE COURT

This appeal disputes the granting by the district court, 342 F.Supp. 188, of defendant-appellee Burt’s application for a writ of habeas corpus. The writ was allowed because of the use, by the prosecution, of certain non-conduct of Burt to refute the credibility of his testimony. This was held to be such prejudicial error as to void his conviction. Defendant claimed that he had accidentally shot one Shorty Owens in a scuffle at the decedent’s house. The prosecution urges that if it had been actually an accidental shooting, the normal thing for Burt to have done would have…