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Com. ex Rel. Haines v. Banmiller

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Dec 30, 1959
398 Pa. 7 (Pa. 1959)

Summary

In Commonwealth ex rel. Haines v. Banmiller, 398 Pa. 7, 157 A.2d 167 (1959), the Court by unanimous per curiam decision affirmed, on the opinion of the lower court, a denial of habeas corpus.

Summary of this case from Commonwealth v. Moore

Opinion

Submitted November 12, 1959.

December 30, 1959.

Habeas corpus — Petition — Insufficiency — Complaint of trial error — Prisoner's wife named as witness on indictment.

In this habeas corpus proceeding in which it appeared that petitioner, a prisoner serving a life sentence for first degree murder, after the court dismissed a prior petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed a second petition in which he complained that incompetent evidence was introduced against him at his trial (which was contradicted by the record) and that his wife's name was endorsed on the indictment as a Commonwealth witness, it was Held that the court below had properly dismissed the petition without a hearing.

Before JONES, C. J., BELL, MUSMANNO, JONES, COHEN, BOK and McBRIDE, JJ.

Appeal, No. 217, Jan. T., 1959, from order of Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland County, May T., 1959, No. 445, in case of Commonwealth ex rel. Percy S. Haines v. William J. Banmiller, Warden. Order affirmed.

Reporter's Note: On May 31, 1960 the Supreme Court of the United States denied a petition for a writ of certiorari.

Same case in court below: 19 Pa. D. C.2d 219.

Habeas corpus proceeding.

Petition for writ dismissed, opinion by SHEELY, P. J. Relator appealed.

Percy S. Haines, appellant, in propria persona.

Clinton R. Weidner, District Attorney, for appellee.


This is the second appeal by the relator within a year and a half from successive orders of the court below dismissing his respective petitions for a writ of habeas corpus.

The former appeal to this court is reported at 393 Pa. 439, 143 A.2d 661. There, we affirmed the order of the court below dismissing the relator's petition, on the opinion of President Judge SHEELY, of the 51st Judicial District, specially presiding, reported in 13 Pa. D. C.2d 57 et seq.

The relator is confined in the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, where he is serving a life sentence for a felonious homicide for which he was convicted of murder in the first degree. The facts attending the killing are fully reported in the above-mentioned opinion of Judge SHEELY in 13 Pa. D. C.2d 57.

The petition of the relator, which initiated the instant proceeding in the court below, advanced several additional reasons for the granting of the writ sought. These contentions are satisfactorily and adequately disposed of in a further opinion of Judge SHEELY, whereon we affirm.

Order affirmed.


Summaries of

Com. ex Rel. Haines v. Banmiller

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Dec 30, 1959
398 Pa. 7 (Pa. 1959)

In Commonwealth ex rel. Haines v. Banmiller, 398 Pa. 7, 157 A.2d 167 (1959), the Court by unanimous per curiam decision affirmed, on the opinion of the lower court, a denial of habeas corpus.

Summary of this case from Commonwealth v. Moore
Case details for

Com. ex Rel. Haines v. Banmiller

Case Details

Full title:Commonwealth ex rel. Haines, Appellant v. Banmiller

Court:Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Date published: Dec 30, 1959

Citations

398 Pa. 7 (Pa. 1959)
157 A.2d 167

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