Gerald L. Woods v. John D. Munns, Superintendent, Kansas State Industrial Reformatory, Hutchinson, Kansas

PICKETT, Circuit Judge.

The appellant Woods, a negro, was convicted of first degree kidnapping and forcible rape in the State Court of Bourbon County, Kansas, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment on the kidnapping charge, and from five to twenty-one years for forcible rape. Prior to trial the court denied a motion for change of venue which alleged that community hostility toward the defendant was such that a fair trial could not be had in Bourbon County. After a jury had been empaneled, Woods moved to dismiss the jury and to quash the jury panel for the reason that negroes had been…