Hopkins v. Hopper

Nichols, Chief Justice.

This appeal is taken from an order denying habeas corpus relief. Petitioner is presently confined pursuant to a life sentence imposed upon a murder conviction rendered March 3, 1966, in the Superior Court of Sumter County. The allegations of the habeas petition raised issues pertaining to systematic exclusion of Negroes from Sumter County grand and traverse juries, ineffective assistance of counsel at trial, a coerced unsworn statement, pronouncement of the sentence not in petitioner’s presence, the constitutionality of a life sentence, denial of a motion for change of…