Goldsby v. State, 39739

• Decision Date: 21 April 1958
• Docket Number: No. 39739,39739
• Citation: 102 So.2d 215,233 Miss. 338
• Parties: Robert Lee GOLDSBY v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 215

102 So.2d 215

233 Miss. 338

Robert Lee GOLDSBY v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 39739.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

April 21, 1958.

George N. Leighton, Chicago, Ill., for appellant.

Joe T. Patterson, Atty. Gen., by J. R. Griffin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

ROBERDS, Justice.

We have for consideration a motion of the Attorney General of Mississippi to set a new date for the execution of the respondent. Respondent objects to the motion on the ground that he is endeavoring to perfect an appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, Greenville Division, which denied his application for a writ of habeas corpus and remanded him to the possession of the Superintendent of the penitentiary of the State of Mississippi.

According to the record before us this is the journey this litigation has taken

In November 1954 respondent was convicted of murder in the Second Judicial District of Carroll County, Mississippi, and sentenced to death.

On March 28, 1955, this Court affirmed that judgment and sentence and set the date of execution for Friday, May 13, 1955. Goldsby v. State, 226 Miss. 1, 78 So.2d 762.

On May 11, 1955, an appeal was granted from that action by the Chief Justice of this Court, thereby, staying said execution.

On December 12, 1955, the Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari. 350 U.S. 925, 76 S.Ct. 216, 100 L.Ed. 809.

On January 16, 1956, on motion made by the Attorney General of Mississippi, this Court again fixed the date of execution of respondent as Friday, February 24, 1956. 226 Miss. 1, 84 So.2d 528.

On February 21, 1956, respondent filed in this Court a petition for writ of error coram nobis, which petition this Court denied. 226 Miss. 1, 86 So.2d 27.

An appeal from that action was prosecuted to the Supreme Court of the United States and on December 10, 1956, that court denied the petition for writ of certiorari. 352 U.S. 944, 77 S.Ct. 266, 1 L.Ed.2d 239.

On January 7, 1957, on proper motion, this Court again set the date for the execution as Tuesday, February 12, 1957. Goldsby v. State, 226 Miss. 1, 91 So.2d 750.

Respondent then filed a petition in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi for a writ of habeas corpus. On July 29, 1957, Judge Allen Cox denied the petition and declined to issue a certificate of probable cause.

On February 8, 1957, a motion for stay of execution was heard by Judge Wayne G. Borah, United States Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, which motion was denied.

On Bebruary 11, 1957, the Honorable Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, granted respondent a stay of execution 'until petitioner has had opportunity to exhaust his federal rights in this proceeding.'

An appeal was then perfected to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, from the foregoing order of Judge Allen Cox.

November 20, 1957, said Circuit Court of Appeals, United States ex rel. Goldsby v. Harpole, 5 Cir., 249 F.2d 417, remanded the cause to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.

The matter was heard finally by Judge Claude F. Clayton, who had succeeded Judge Cox as District Judge, upon petition and proof. On April 3, 1958, the petition was dismissed by Judge Clayton and Goldsby was remanded to the custody of the Superintendent of the Mississippi State Penitentiary. Judge Clayton refused to issue a certificate of probable cause and the request of Goldsby for an appeal to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, was denied.

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