Biddle v. Perovich

The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has certified questions of law to this Court upon facts of which we give an abridged statement. Perovieh was convicted in Alaska of murder; the verdict being that he was ‘guilty of murder in the first degree and that he suffer death.’ On September 15, 1905, he was sentenced to be hanged; and the judgment was affirmed by this Court. 205 U. S. 86. Respites were granted from time to time, and on June 5, 1909, President Taft executed a document by which he purported to “ commute the sentence of the said Vuco Perovieh . . to imprisonment for life…