Luther Bailey v. Lee Henslee, Superintendent of Arkansas State Penitentiary

GARDNER, Chief Judge.

This appeal is from an order denying appellant’s petition for writ of habeas corpus. Appellant, a negro, was charged in the Circuit Court of Pulaski County, Arkansas, with the crime of rape upon a white woman. On the trial before a jury he was convicted and upon a verdict of guilty the court imposed a death sentence as required by the statutes of Arkansas. When the case was called for trial defendant interposed a motion to quash the petit jury panel on the ground that in the selection of the panel negroes had been systematically excluded. On this motion he submitted the…