Squier

DeMaurez appeals from a judgment denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In 1937 he was charged with two violations of § 73, Title 18, U.S.C.A., under two counts of an indictment. Count One alleged that he had forged the indorsement of the payee’s signature on a check drawn upon the Civil Service Retirement fund, and Count Two alleged that with intent to defraud the United States he had falsely uttered and published as true the check and the forged indorsement thereon. The check was drawn in payment of a Civil Service Retirement annuity due the payee. Petitioner was found guilty on both counts and was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of ten years on the first and five years on the second, the terms to run consecutively. In addition he was sentenced to pay a fine of $500 on each count.

Petitioner claims that the sentence is excessive. He argues that the acts recited in the indictment are offenses within the meaning of § 128, Title 38, U.S.C.A., that they are not offenses within the meaning of § 73, Title 18, U.S.C.A., and therefore that a sentence consistent with the provisions of the latter section but greater than the maximum sentence authorized by the former is…