Billy Williams v. Carl Hocker, Warden

A jury in a Nevada state court found Williams guilty of robbery and he was sentenced to life imprisonment as an habitual offender. Williams appealed to the Supreme Court of Nevada, which affirmed the conviction and sentence. Williams v. State, 85 Nev. 169 , 451 P.2d 848 (1969), cert. denied 396 U.S. 916 , 90 S.Ct. 239 , 24 L.Ed.2d 194 (1969). Williams next sought post conviction relief from the United States District Court in Nevada. We affirm that court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas coi’pus.

Williams challenges the trial court’s admission of allegedly immaterial evidence and attacks the jury instructions on the standard of criminal responsibility applicable under Nevada law. On this record, neither category of claim comprehends any violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States, and the federal courts accordingly lack jurisdiction over them. See, e. g., Crow v. Eyman, 459 F.2d 24 (9th Cir., 1972); 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (a).

We cannot consider Williams’ constitutional attack upon the procedures leading to identification of him by witnesses to the crime, because he has not presented that ground for relief to the Nevada courts and it appears that he may…