Lester E. Morford, III v. Carl Hocker, Warden, Nevada State Penitentiary

In the state of Nevada, appellant was convicted of murder on his plea of guilty, and sentenced to death. The prosecution was upon an information, as permitted by the Constitution of Nevada, Art. I, § 8 (Nev.Stats., 1909, at 346, id., 1911, at 454). The constitutional provision is implemented by statutes. (Nev.R.S. ch. 173.) On this appeal from denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, appellant’s sole contention is that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States requires that such a prosecution as his be by indictment. The theory is that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment makes applicable to the states the grand jury requirement of the Fifth Amendment.

In the landmark decision in Hurtado v. People of State of California, 1884, 110 U.S. 516 , 4 S.Ct. 111, 292 , 28 L.Ed. 232 , the Supreme Court rejected this contention, and that decision has been followed ever since. McNulty v. People of State of California, 1893, 149 U.S. 645 , 13 S.Ct. 959 , 37 L.Ed. 882 ; Hodgson v. State of Vermont, 1897, 168 U.S. 262 , 18 S.Ct. 80 , 42 L.Ed. 461 ; Bolln v. State of Nebraska, 1900, 176 U.S. 83 , 20 S.Ct. 287 , 44 L.Ed.…