Clarence T. Gladden, Warden, Oregon State Penitentiary v. William Edward Unsworth

Clarence T. Gladden, Warden of Oregon State Penitentiary, appeals from a district court order granting a writ of habeas corpus to William Edward Unsworth. The district court opinion is reported. Unsworth v. Gladden, D.C.Or., 261 F.Supp. 897 .

Unsworth is in Oregon State penal custody under a life sentence, following his conviction for second degree murder. The conviction grew out of an incident which happened in the cabin of Unsworth and his wife at Beatty, Oregon, about midnight, April 15, 1962. At that time one Tony Moore was visiting the Unsworths in their cabin when Unsworth shot Moore with a rifle. The state prosecuted on the alternative theories that Unsworth either intended to kill Moore, or accidentally killed him while attempting to kill Mrs. Unsworth.

One of the grounds relied upon by the district court in granting the writ relates to the reception in evidence at the state trial of a transcribed question and answer statement, signed by Unsworth, containing the admission that he shot Moore. Unsworth made this statement in the office of the district attorney about 5 p.m., April 16, 1962, seventeen hours after the shooting. Those present during the interrogation were, in…