In re Holloman

In 2011, the petitioner was indicted for the second degree murder of Joseph Whitley. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to so much of the indictment charging him with voluntary manslaughter. After unsuccessfully seeking a writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County, the petitioner refiled the petition in Superior Court where it was denied. On appeal, he claims that the judge erred in denying his petition without a hearing, and that the grand jury lacked subject matter jurisdiction to indict him. We affirm.

The habeas corpus statute, G. L. c. 248, § 1, states that "[w]hoever…