Smith v. State

This is an appeal from a summary denial of the defendant’s motion for relief brought pursuant to Criminal Procedure Rule No. 1, F.S.A. Chapter 924 Appendix.

Defendant was tried and convicted of rape pursuant to a jury verdict, for which he was sentenced to ninety-nine years in the state penitentiary. The conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal. Defendant filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, in which he alleged, inter alia, that his attorney refused to permit him to testify in his own behalf. The petition…