United States of America Ex Rel. Russell Brown H-6127 v. Harry E. Russell, Superintendent, State Correctional Institution, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania

OPINION OF THE COURT

The habeas corpus petitioner, Brown, was tried for rape and sodomy in Philadelphia in 1966. A jury convicted him, and on January 19, 1967, a sentence of five to seventeen years was imposed. Direct appeal in the Pennsylvania courts led to a per curiam affirmance in the Superior Court, Commonwealth v. Brown, 210 Pa.Super. 733, 231 A.2d 332 (1967), and a denial of allocatur in the Supreme Court. After Brown’s petition for post-conviction relief in the Pennsylvania state courts was denied without a hearing, he sought a writ of habeas corpus in the District Court. He appeals…