Court Opinion

ID: 9454504
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:48:30.081235+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:08.666111
License: Public Domain

HASTIE, Chief Judge
(concurring).
Were we free from constraint imposed by higher authority, I would find that in the circumstances of this case the introduction of prior convictions into evidence at the petitioner’s trial was inconsistent with the due process requirement of fundamental fairness. However, in a similar case presenting an even stronger showing of unfairness and prejudice, United States ex rel. Johnson v. Rundle, E.D.Pa.1964, 243 F.Supp. 695, aff’d. per curiam, 3d Cir. 1965, 349 F.2d 416, the Supreme Court reversed per curiam our allowance of habeas corpus. Rundle v. Johnson, 1967, 386 U.S. 14, 87 S.Ct. 847, 17 L.Ed.2d 695. That decision, which in my view extends the reach of Spencer v. Texas, 1967, 385 U.S. 554, 87 S.Ct. 648, 17 L.Ed.2d 606, leaves us no alternative but to deny relief in this case.