King Hairston v. J. D. Cox, Superintendent of the Virginia State Penitentiary

BUTZNER, Circuit Judge:

The sole issue presented by this appeal is whether a Virginia prisoner, King Hairston, is entitled to a writ of habeas corpus on the basis of his complaint that black persons were systematically excluded from his grand and petit juries in 1942. Hairston did not raise this issue at his trial. He initially alleged it in his state habeas proceeding. We previously found that Hairston had established a prima facie case of systematic exclusion, and we remanded the case for an evidentiary hearing to afford the state the opportunity to present rebuttal evidence. 1 The district…