Billy Joe Houston, Relator v. O. B. Ellis, General Manager, Texas Prison System

Billy Joe Houston was convicted in a Texas Court of rape and sentenced to death. The judgment recited that Houston was brought into court, “his counsel also being present”. He applied to the District Court for a writ of habeas corpus asserting that his attorneys were not present in court when sentence was imposed. Houston presented with his petition the affidavits of himself, his mother, an aunt and the wife of an uncle. These, he contends, show his counsel were not present when he was sentenced. By an order of January 11, 1957, the same day as that on which the petition was filed, the…