United States of America Ex Rel. James Edward Hill v. Warren Pinto, Superintendent New Jersey State Prison Farm, Rahway, New Jersey

OPINION OF THE COURT

FREEDMAN, Circuit Judge.

Appellant was convicted in a New Jersey state court of murder in the second degree and was sentenced to fifteen to twenty years imprisonment. The Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed his conviction. 1 His subsequent pro se petition in the district court for a writ of habeas corpus was denied 2 and from that action he brings this appeal.

I

Early in the trial the prosecutor stated in open court in the absence of the jury that petitioner had threatened to kill the State’s principal witness, Arthur Lee Hames, if he testified against him and sought to…