Opinion of the Court. 334 U.S. mitted to the United States Penitentiary at Alcatraz, California. His efforts to prosecute an appeal from his conviction proved futile.2 Since his confinement at Alcatraz, petitioner has made four separate applications for writs of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The instant proceeding involves the fourth of these applications. Inasmuch as the problems in this case can best be understood in light of the issues raised in the earlier proceedings, it becomes necessary to examine the various applications in some detail. 1. The first application was prepared and filed in 1940 by petitioner, who is not a lawyer. He sought release mainly on the grounds that certain evidence used against him at the trial had been obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment and that the trial judge had improperly refused to disqualify himself upon the filing of an affidavit of prejudice. It is important to note that this application did not allege that the conviction resulted from the prosecution's knowing use of false testimony. The District Court issued an order to show cause, a return was made, and the petitioner then filed a traverse in the form of a "Motion to overrule Respondent's return and issue writ." This motion likewise failed to aver the knowing use of false testimony. But it did call the lives of a bank employee and others by the use of a dangerous weapon, and (4) kidnapped a bank employee in the course of such offense. Petitioner was found guilty as charged. 2 His petition to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for a writ of mandamus to require the trial judge to enter a decision on his application for an appeal was denied because "no application for appeal is pending before respondent or in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan." Price v. Moinet, 116 F. 2d 500. His petition in this Court for a writ of certiorari was denied because filed out of time, 311 U. S. 703; rehearing denied, 311 U. S. 729. Petitioner acted as his own counsel in these unsuccessful maneuvers. 266 Opinion of the Court. the court's attention to "two different statements" made at the trial by the prosecution's chief witness, Fred T. Donner, and to the "methods . . . used to obtain" this change in testimony. There was no indication given as to what those "methods" were. Donner's testimony at the trial was attached as an exhibit, testimony which revealed that Donner had gone to the office of the District Attorney and talked to him and his assistant during the interval between the allegedly conflicting statements.* The District Court then appointed counsel for petitioner at his request. Several months later, when the 3 Point V of petitioner's motion stated: "Because the respondent shows falsely on the affidavit by Assistant United States Attorney John W. Babcock, respondent's Exhibit 'A', where he states that there was no determination of any one in said office of the United States Attorney to have him convicted falsely. Petitioner calls the attention of this Honorable Court to the testimony of transcript of record at page 35 Second part. Recross examination of the one and only witness that the government produced to testify that there had been a crime committed as charged in indictment #24629. Petitioner's Exhibit 'A', testimony given by Fred T. Donner, and it will show just what methods was used to obtain two different statements from this witness." This testimony was brought out on recross examination of Donner by one of petitioner's attorneys. Part of this colloquy was as follows: "Q. Witness, perhaps I misunderstood your testimony this morning. Did I understand you correctly to say that last night after you left here, you went up to the department of Justice, or the District Attorney's office, and you discussed your testimony? "A. Yes, sir. "Q. And whom did you discuss it with? "A. With the District Attorney, and the assistant. "Q. And after that discussion, you remembered some things that you have testified to this morning? "A. I remembered them yesterday, but I just-I was nervous and forgot them. "Q. Well, my recollection and yours perhaps do not agree on it, but Opinion of the Court. 334 U.S. matter came on for determination, the court entered an order denying the application for a writ of habeas corpus and dismissing the petition. No hearing was held, the order being entered solely on the basis of the pleadings. And no findings of fact or conclusions of law were made. Nor was an opinion written. Petitioner thereafter proceeded pro se. Among his various legal maneuvers, he moved for a rehearing. He stated, as grounds for the motion, that the court erred in refusing to allow him to appear and testify personally before entering the order and that the court-appointed attorney "blocked your petitioner from filing an amended petition to include additional points so that they could be reviewed on appeal." This motion was denied. Petitioner prepared his own appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals. Among the points upon which he stated he intended to rely was the claim that he had been denied "a fair and impartial trial" by Donner's change in testimony after talking with the District Attorney. But the Circuit Court of Appeals, in affirming the District Court's disposition of the habeas corpus petition, made no reference to this point; its opinion was devoted exclusively to the matters raised in the original petition. Price v. Johnston, 125 F. 2d 806. Included in the numerous claims in his attempt to secure a writ of certiorari in this Court was the reiteration that Donner's change in testimony deprived him of a fair the statements that you made yesterday were all true to the best of your recollection, were they not? “A. Yes, sir. "Q. And your conversations last night after you left the court didn't assist you in giving any testimony, did they? "A. No, it did not, only that I had an opportunity, I wanted an opportunity to bring out something that I hadn't said. "Q. Did it refresh your recollection? "A. No, it just-there were just some things I didn't tell in my story, that is all." 266 Opinion of the Court. and impartial trial. According to his written argument, "if this was not perjured it was base contradictory evidence for after this witness had completed all his evidence he was then taken into the private chambers of the United States Attorney . . . and there was instructed as to what to say, for he came from said office and was recalled to the stand at this second setting he rebutted all his prior testimony. This must be either classed as a conspiracy forcing a witness to change his testimony either of which surely would not be giving the appellant the fair and impartial trial to which he is entitled." The Government's memorandum in opposition dealt with this contention in a footnote. It was there said that petitioner's claim “is refuted by the excerpt from the transcript of the proceedings at the trial introduced as part of petitioner's pleadings. .. The witness did not rebut his prior testimony but merely supplemented it with a few more details and he affirmatively stated that his discussion with the prosecutor did not assist him in his subsequent testimony." This Court denied the petition for a writ of certiorari. Price v. Johnston, 316 U. S. 677; rehearing denied, 316 U. S. 712. 2. In 1942, several months after the foregoing action by this Court, petitioner prepared and filed in the District Court a second petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In this petition he sought release on the same grounds set forth in his first petition as well as on two principal additional grounds. The two new claims were that petitioner's counsel had been absent from the courtroom during an important part of the trial and that petitioner had not had counsel at the preliminary hearing before the United States Commissioner. The petition, as amended, contained no allegation that false testimony had been knowingly used at the trial; nor did it refer in any way to Donner's allegedly inconsistent testimony. Moreover, no mention of such matters was made by petitioner Opinion of the Court. 334 U.S. in his testimony at the hearing on the writ of habeas The District Court, at the close of the hearing, discharged the writ. Its findings of fact and conclusions of law were subsequently entered and were silent as to any question relating to the knowing use of false testimony. The District Court's action was affirmed on appeal, the opinion of the Circuit Court of Appeals being devoted to the matters decided by the District Court. Price v. Johnston, 144 F. 2d 260. This Court then denied a petition for certiorari, a petition which presented no issues differing from those raised in the lower courts. Price v. Johnston, 323 U. S. 789; rehearing denied, 323 U. S. 819. 3. Petitioner's third petition for a writ of habeas corpus was denied by the District Court on August 22, 1945. This denial was based on the ground that the issues raised were known to petitioner when he filed the earlier petitions, making the third petition an abusive use of the writ of habeas corpus. Price v. Johnston, 61 F. Supp. 995. Leave to appeal was denied. It is not evident, however, what the issues were that petitioner did raise in this proceeding. The lawyer who had represented petitioner in connection with the first application withdrew and another was appointed in his place by the District Court to serve petitioner in the second proceeding. This lawyer filed an amended petition for the writ of habeas corpus. The writ issued, there was a hearing at which petitioner's counsel was present, a further amendment of the petition was allowed, and testimony was taken. Petitioner gave evidence on his own behalf at this hearing. In prosecuting his appeal from the District Court's action, petitioner once more acted pro se. The District Court's opinion, after briefly stating the background of the case, reads as follows: "Petitioner alleges that the questions now raised was not raised in the prior petitions No. 23268-W and 10.671.R.' However, these matters were known to petitioner when he filed the petitions in 23268-W and 23721-R. If petitioner intended to rely on these |