United States of America Ex Rel. Samuel Tito Williams v. Edwin M. Fay, Warden of Greenhaven Prison, Stormville, New York

J. JOSEPH SMITH, Circuit Judge,

Relator was convicted of first degree murder in the County Court of Kings County on January 22, 1948. At his sentencing on March 2, 1948, the trial judge refused to follow the jury’s recom- . mendation that relator be sentenced to life imprisonment, and on the basis of certain ex parte information, sentenced him to death by electrocution. On direct appeal to the New York Court of Appeals, relator contended that the confessions he had made that were introduced against him at the trial had been coerced and that the sentencing procedure was unconstitutional. The…