Mitchell v. Henslee, No. PB 62 C 24.
| Court | United States District Courts. 8th Circuit. United States State District Court of Eastern District of Arkansas |
| Writing for the Court | YOUNG |
| Citation | 208 F. Supp. 533 |
| Docket Number | No. PB 62 C 24. |
| Decision Date | 06 September 1962 |
| Parties | Lonnie MITCHELL, Petitioner, v. Lee HENSLEE, Superintendent of Arkansas State Penitentiary, Respondent. |
208 F. Supp. 533
Lonnie MITCHELL, Petitioner,
v.
Lee HENSLEE, Superintendent of Arkansas State Penitentiary, Respondent.
No. PB 62 C 24.
United States District Court E. D. Arkansas, Pine Bluff Division.
September 6, 1962.
Delector Tiller, Christopher C. Mercer, Jr., Little Rock, Ark., for petitioner.
J. Frank Holt, Atty. Gen., Thorp Thomas, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, Ark., for respondent.
YOUNG, District Judge.
This is a habeas corpus proceeding prosecuted in forma pauperis by Lonnie Mitchell, a male Negro, who in 1959 received a death sentence from the Circuit Court of Union County, Arkansas, following his conviction of having raped a 77 year old crippled white woman. The conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Arkansas. Mitchell v. State, 230 Ark. 894, 327 S.W.2d 384. No application for certiorari was made to the Supreme Court of the United States.
At his trial petitioner was represented by court appointed counsel, Mr. J. S. Thomas of El Dorado, and Mr. Thomas also prosecuted the original appeal, which will hereinafter be called Mitchell No. 1. Subsequently, petitioner obtained the services of his present counsel who in 1960 filed a motion in the Union County Circuit Court to vacate the 1959 conviction. The motion was denied and this was affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court. Mitchell v. State, 232 Ark. 371, 337 S.W.2d 663. This portion of the case will hereinafter be called Mitchell No. 2. Neither was there an application for certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States from this decision. Still later, petitioner filed a petition for habeas corpus in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Arkansas (the site of the Arkansas State Penitentiary). That petition was also denied and affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court. Mitchell v. State ex rel. Henslee, Ark., 346 S.W.2d 201. This will hereinafter be called Mitchell No. 3. Petitioner did not apply for certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States from this decision just as he did not from the previous decisions. At a still later date petitioner applied to the Arkansas Supreme Court for leave to file a Writ of Error Coram Nobis based on the sole issue of insanity, and this application was denied without written opinion (see statements of counsel).
Upon the filing of the application for leave to file and prosecute in forma pauperis a petition for habeas corpus, the application was granted, the petition filed, execution stayed and an order entered setting a hearing for August 21, 1962 at 10:00 a. m. At an informal conference held on August 20, 1962 in the chambers of this court, with counsel for both petitioner and respondent present, the court announced that the formal hearing to be held the next day would be limited to introducing into the record all relevant portions of the state proceedings and giving the petitioner opportunity to present to the court the exceptional circumstances relied on by him to take this case outside the rule laid down by Darr v. Burford, 339 U.S. 200, 70 S.Ct. 587, 94 L.Ed. 761. This rule, of course, is that a state prisoner cannot secure review of his conviction in the state court by means of habeas corpus proceedings in the federal District Court until he has exhausted all available state remedies and applied to the Supreme Court of the United States for certiorari to review adverse decisions of the highest state court, except in the event of exceptional circumstances. By delaying any hearing to permit the taking of testimony until such time as the court could consider the records of the state proceedings and determine whether such hearing would be necessary, the court was following the guide laid down in Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, at page 502, 73 S.Ct. 397, 97 L.Ed. 469, et seq., directing the District Judges on the procedure to be followed in the disposition of applications for habeas corpus by prisoners under sentence of state courts.
In the instant petition the petitioner claims that his conviction was obtained in violation of rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and was for that reason void. The petition contains five alleged violations of his constitutional rights, and they are, in substance, as follows:
1. It is the practice and custom in Arkansas for Negro men to receive death sentences for rapes committed upon white women whereas white men are not sentenced to die for rapes whether committed on white or Negro women and that this alleged practice and custom constitutes an unconstitutional application of the Arkansas rape statute which violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
2. Racial discrimination was practiced in the selection of the jury.
3. Petitioner's confessions were obtained by coercion and other unlawful means and should not have been...
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Mitchell v. Stephens, No. PB 62 C 24.
...v. State, 234 Ark. 762, 354 S.W.2d 557 (1962). Petitioner then sought habeas corpus in this Court which was denied, Mitchell v. Henslee, 208 F.Supp. 533 (E. D.Ark.1962), rev'd per curiam 332 F.2d 16 (8th Cir. 1964). Pursuant to the mandate of the Court of Appeals, hearings on the petition w......
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Mitchell v. Stephens, No. 17835.
...Arkansas. This petition was denied primarily on grounds of waiver and failure to exhaust available state remedies. Mitchell v. Henslee, 208 F.Supp. 533 (E.D.Ark.1962). We reversed, 332 F.2d 16 (8 Cir. 1964), in the light of the intervening decision in Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391, 438-439, 83 ......
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Maxwell v. Stephens, No. PB 64 C 4.
...Arkansas School of Law and was one of the attorneys who represented Lonnie Mitchell in a habeas corpus proceeding. Mitchell v. Henslee, 208 F.Supp. 533 (E. D.Ark.1962) rev'd per curiam Case No. 17,208, 332 F.2d 16 (8th Cir. May 4, 2 The details of the identification are set out in the trans......
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Mitchell v. Henslee, No. 17208.
...Judge. PER CURIAM. The appeal is from an order denying an application for a writ of habeas corpus, Mitchell v. Henslee, D.C.E.D.Ark., 208 F.Supp. 533. Appellant is under a sentence of death by the courts of Arkansas for a conviction of rape. He is a Negro and was 23 years of age at the time......
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Mitchell v. Stephens, No. PB 62 C 24.
...v. State, 234 Ark. 762, 354 S.W.2d 557 (1962). Petitioner then sought habeas corpus in this Court which was denied, Mitchell v. Henslee, 208 F.Supp. 533 (E. D.Ark.1962), rev'd per curiam 332 F.2d 16 (8th Cir. 1964). Pursuant to the mandate of the Court of Appeals, hearings on the petition w......
-
Mitchell v. Stephens, No. 17835.
...Arkansas. This petition was denied primarily on grounds of waiver and failure to exhaust available state remedies. Mitchell v. Henslee, 208 F.Supp. 533 (E.D.Ark.1962). We reversed, 332 F.2d 16 (8 Cir. 1964), in the light of the intervening decision in Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391, 438-439, 83 ......
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Maxwell v. Stephens, No. PB 64 C 4.
...Arkansas School of Law and was one of the attorneys who represented Lonnie Mitchell in a habeas corpus proceeding. Mitchell v. Henslee, 208 F.Supp. 533 (E. D.Ark.1962) rev'd per curiam Case No. 17,208, 332 F.2d 16 (8th Cir. May 4, 2 The details of the identification are set out in the trans......
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Mitchell v. Henslee, No. 17208.
...Judge. PER CURIAM. The appeal is from an order denying an application for a writ of habeas corpus, Mitchell v. Henslee, D.C.E.D.Ark., 208 F.Supp. 533. Appellant is under a sentence of death by the courts of Arkansas for a conviction of rape. He is a Negro and was 23 years of age at the time......