Robinson

Thomas Henry Robinson, Jr. filed with Chief Judge William Denman, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, his Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, leave to proceed in forma pauperis and for appointment of counsel; in addition, he filed an affidavit claiming bias and prejudice on the part of a United States District Judge.

Chief Judge Denman, in turn, has referred the matter to this Court for determination pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. § 2241 (b). Robinson’s reasons for not filing his petition in the first instance before the United States District Court are hot tenable nor meritorious.

The petition has some historical significance. See opinion of Chief Judge Michael Roche, Robinson v. Johnston, D.C.Cal.1943, 50 F.Supp. 774, 778 . 1 ****As a result of Judge Roche’s decision granting habeas corpus, the petitioner was retried in the District Court of the United States for the Western District of Kentucky before the Honorable Shackelford Miller, Jr., Judge, 2 and a jury for the kidnapping of one Mrs. Alice Stoll in October, 1934, in violation of Section 408 of Title 18 U.S.C.A., now Section 1201, 18 U.S.C.A., and with a conspiracy to kidnap Mrs. Stoll. He was convicted…