Everette Thompson Dawson v. United States

Petitioner sought and obtained from this court an order to show cause why a writ of habeas corpus should not be issue in his favor. He had been convicted in the District Court in and for the Southern District of California, Southern Division, of the crime of kidnapping. 18 U.S.C. § 1201 . His sentence was delayed so that he could make this application.

Section 1201 reads, in material part, as follows:

No issue is here made of sufficiency of the evidence to support petitioner’s conviction, or any other error of law allegedly occurring in the trial, for such matters can be reached by appeal.

Petitioner here alleges the invalidity of his confinement because the indictment presented against him by the Grand Jury on the kidnapping charge was fatally defective in that it does not allege a kidnapping or transportation “for a purpose.” (Emphasis by petitioner.)

Petitioner was indicted as follows:

Petitioner relies primarily on four cases: United States v. Varner, 7 Cir., 1960, 283 F.2d 900, 903 ; Chatwin v. United States, 1946, 326 U.S. 455 , 66 S.Ct. 233 , 90 L.Ed. 198 ; Williams v. United States, 9 Cir., 1959, 265 F.2d 214 ; and People v. Oliver, 55 Cal.2d -, 12 Cal.Rptr. 865 , 361…