Samuel Allen, Raymond Hardrick and Melvin Lemmons v. County Court, Ulster County and New York Woodbourne Correctional Facility, Woodbourne, New York

MANSFIELD, Circuit Judge:

The principal issue in this case is the constitutionality of a New York statute which makes the “presence in an automobile ... of any firearm presumptive evidence of its possession by all persons occupying such automobile at the time such weapon ... is found, except under the following circumstances: (a) if such weapon ... is found upon the person of one of the occupants therein. . ”1 Judge Richard Owen of the Southern District of New York granted appellees' application as state prisoners for a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that this statutory presumption was…