McKinney v. Boles

MEMORANDUM

MAXWELL, Chief Judge.

This is a habeas corpus petition instituted by Frank J. McKinney, an inmate of the West Virginia State Penitentiary. McKinney is currently serving a life sentence for first degree murder.

On September 12, 1958, a Wyoming County, West Virginia, jury found McKinney guilty of shooting and killing Forrest Haynes Sams, a local constable, who was carrying a warrant for McKinney’s arrest. Two months later, the Circuit Court of Wyoming County, after first having overruled McKinney’s motion to set aside the verdict and to grant a new trial, passed sentence.

Subsequently,…