State Ex Rel. Johnson v. Heer

On June 17, 1965, plaintiff in error, William Joe Johnson, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Circuit Court of Davidson County, Tennessee. This petition for writ of habeas corpus alleged that in his prior trial in the Criminal Court of Montgomery County, Tennessee, for the crime of rape, certain of petitioner’s constitutional rights were violated. At that trial, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. An evidentiary hearing on the petition for habeas corpus was had in the Davidson County Circuit Court and, after such hearing, the trial court dismissed the petition…