Harold Terry v. J.J. Enomoto

Habeas corpus. The district court denied the writ and Terry appeals. We affirm.

I. Facts.

Terry is a prisoner of California, having been convicted of first degree murders in 1965. At his trial he said that he was a professional thief, and had no other source of income. Before trial, he signed an affidavit in which he alleged that he owned no real property; had no money, none at home, in the bank, in jail property, owed to him, or anywhere else; no pension; tax refund, compensation; law suit; no stocks, bonds, jewelry, or insurance with surrender value. He asked to be defended by the public defender, and he was so defended.

When he was arrested on the murder charges, in March, 1965, the police seized a considerable quantity of property in his apartment and in the home of his estranged wife. Much of it was returned by the police to the persons whose homes had been burglarized by Terry. Sometime later, in 1973, the police disposed of what was left. He now says that among items of property seized were a $2,500 Waterford punch bowl service, a $3,600 oil painting, two Kangxi Chinese vases worth $11,500 each, and over $2,000 worth of fishing equipment, that he owned them, and that, if…