Jack Rainsberger v. Jack Fogliani, Warden

Appellant is in custody of the warden of the Nevada State Penitentiary following conviction of first-degree murder. He seeks relief in habeas corpus. The writ was denied by the District Court without evidentiary hearing, and this appeal was taken.

Appellant, on June 9, 1959, pleaded guilty to a charge of murder. Nev.Rev. Stat. § 200.030 (1957) at the time provided that if one is “convicted on confession in open court, the court shall proceed, by examination of witnesses, to determine the degree of the crime and give sentence accordingly.”

After a two-day hearing before the state trial judge, Rainsberger was adjudged guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death. He appealed his conviction to the Nevada Supreme Court and secured a reversal for failure of the trial judge to permit a witness for him to testify. Rainsberger v. State, 76 Nev. 158 , 350 P.2d 995 (1960).

In 1960, § 200.030 in pertinent part was amended to read:

Accordingly, appellant’s ease was remanded for a new hearing before a court of three judges. Through habeas corpus appellant protested against the three-judge hearing in vain, the writ being denied as premature by state courts, the Federal…