Sawyer v. Barbour

In 1950, petitioners Louis F. Smith and John Allen, inmates of Folsom prison, were convicted of murdering a fellow prisoner named Borton and of violating Penal Code section 4500, which makes it a crime for a person serving a life sentence to assault another with a deadly weapon. They were sentenced to death for each offense, and the judgments of conviction and orders denying a new trial were affirmed by this court. (People v. Smith, 36 Cal. 2d 444 [224 P.2d 719].) Petitioners seek a writ of habeas corpus on the theory that they were denied due process of law.