Francis J. Hilderbrand v. United States

Francis J. Hilderbrand, hereafter appellant, appeals from a denial by the District Court for the Western District of Washington of his motion under 28 U.S. C. § 2255 to vacate judgment.

On August 16, 1952, upon a plea of guilty, appellant was convicted of second degree murder under 18 U.S.C. § 1111 by the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. He was sentenced to serve thirty-five years in a federal penitentiary. The one-count indictment under which appellant was convicted, the sufficiency of which he now challenges, stated:

On March 4, 1957, appellant initiated the instant proceeding under § 2255. Appellant alleged that the federal court lacked jurisdiction because the crime had been committed on property which had been transferred out of Indian ownership, and thus out of federal jurisdiction, to the Catholic Church.

On appeal from denial of his motion, the present counsel were appointed by this court to represent appellant, which they have done very ably. These counsel contend for a reversal on a different ground, not presented to the court below. It is that the federal court lacked jurisdiction over appellant because the indictment, supra,…