People Jennings v. Ragen

• Decision Date: 12 January 1959
• Docket Number: No. 185,M,185
• Citation: 79 S.Ct. 321,3 L.Ed.2d 296,358 U.S. 276
• Parties: PEOPLE of the United States ex rel. Talbot JENNINGS, petitioner, v. Joseph E. RAGEN, Warden, Illinois State Penitentiary. isc
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

358 U.S. 276

79 S.Ct. 321

3 L.Ed.2d 296

PEOPLE of the United States ex rel. Talbot JENNINGS, petitioner,

v Joseph E. RAGEN, Warden, Illinois State Penitentiary.

No. 185, Misc.

Supreme Court of the United States

January 12, 1959

Talbot Jennings, pro se.

Mr. Latham Castle, Atty. Gen. of Illinois, for respondent.

On petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

PER CURIAM.

The motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis and the petition for writ of certiorari are granted.

Petitioner, confined under sentence of an Illinois court following his conviction of armed robbery, sought a writ of habeas corpus from the Federal District Court.His petition contained allegations, primarily concerning the introduction into evidence at his trial of a confession coerced by physical mistreatment by police officers, which if true would entitle him to relief.Appended to the petition were various documents, including an opinion of the Supreme Court of Illinois affirming his conviction and simultaneously affirming the denial to him of post-conviction remedies which he had sought in the trial court while his appeal from the conviction was pending.SeePeople v. Jennings, 11 Ill.2d 610, 144 N.E.2d 612.In that opinion, the state court held that the evidence before it warranted the trial court's finding that petitioner's confession had been voluntary.

The State responded to petitioner's application and urged dismissal.The District Court, on a record limited to the aforementioned documents augmented by a 'report' prepared by an amicus curiae appointed by it, dismissed the application without a hearing.The Court of Appeals, in turn, denied petitioner's motion for a certificate of probable cause, 28 U.S.C. § 2253,28 U.S.C.A. § 2253, and dismissed his appeal.

It appears from...