Lawrence George Kruchten v. Frank A. Eyman, Superintendent, Arizona State Prison

Appellant, Lawrence George Kruchten, appeals from the order of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona dated December 1, 1967, denying appellant’s petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus filed with the United States District Court, under Title 28, United States Code, Section 2254 , Kruchten v. Eyman, 276 F.Supp. 858 .

The appellant and his co-defendant, Joseph William Janovic, Jr., pleaded guilty in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona, in and for the County of Yuma, to the crime of first degree murder, and sentence to death was imposed on both defendants July 26, 1963. Appeal of appellant Janovic has been considered separately and decided contemporaneously with the instant appeal.

Post sentence proceedings, and appeals to this Court, of Kruchten and Janovic, have been the same except for some variance in the grounds urged on appeal to the Supreme Court of Arizona, for Habeas Corpus relief, and in their respective specifications of error on appeal to this Court.

During August, 1963, different and separate counsel were substituted for Kruchten and Janovic, and notice of appeal to the Supreme Court of Arizona was filed by each of the appellants from the…