Smith v. State

• Decision Date: 03 June 1963
• Docket Number: No. 42222,42222
• Citation: 154 So.2d 110
• Parties: William SMITH, Jr. v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 110

154 So.2d 110

William SMITH, Jr. v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 42222.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 3, 1963.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Madison County; Leon F. Hendrick, Judge.

Melvin L. Wulf, New York City, for appellant.

Joe T. Patterson, Atty. Gen., by G. Garland Lyell, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

ETHRIDGE, Justice.

William Smith, Jr., appellant, was convicted of rape and sentenced to death in the Circuit Court of Madison County, Mississippi. The conviction and death penalty were affirmed by this Court on April 9, 1962. Smith v. State, Miss., 139 So.2d 857.

Thereafter a Justice of the United States Supreme Court granted a stay of execution pending action upon Smith's petition for writ of certiorari. Accordingly, on October 15, 1962, this Court dismissed, without prejudice, the state's motion at that time to set a date for execution. Smith v. State, Miss., 145 So.2d 688.

The United States Supreme Court granted his petition for certiorari, and, after oral argument and study of the record, that court concluded it was 'not sufficient to permit decision of his constitutional claims.' It therefore dismissed the writ as 'improvidently granted.' Smith v. State of Mississippi, 83 S.Ct. 1265. The state later filed the present motion to set a new date for execution, after due notice to appellant's counsel in accordance with the rule of this Court. Appellant has filed no reply to the state's motion. That motion is hereby sustained, and Friday, July 12, 1963 is set for date of execution of the death sentence.

Motion to set new date for execution sustained, and Friday, July 12, 1963 set for date of execution of death sentence.

All Justices concur.