Lawrence E. Wilson, Warden v. Willie Wade, Jr.

The appellee Wade is a California state prisoner who in November, 1960, was found guilty of murder in the first degree and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He appealed his sentence to the District Court of Appeal where his conviction was affirmed on April 17, 1961. In May, 1966, he made an application to the same District Court of Appeal which he describes as one “for the issuance of records”. On July 21, 1966, he filed in the State Supreme Court a petition for writ of habeas corpus. His application in the District Court of Appeal, he says, was denied without filing and his petition for habeas corpus in the State Supreme Court was denied without opinion. Thereafter and on February 16. 1967, he filed in the court below a petition for writ of habeas corpus. In that petition he stated that the ground for it was “that I am being denied due process and equal protection of the law by the State of California by the illegal retrainment [sic] of my trial records.” It was shown that at all times here mentioned he was indigent and without funds or means of paying for the copying of the transcript of the proceedings at his trial and he was permitted to file his action in forma…