| Summary: | In 1949, Johnny Ray Smith broke out of a Florida jail, along with two seventeen-year old boys. In the course of attempting to evade authorities, they kidnapped a man in order to use his car. They were captured a few days later and were charged under the Federal Kidnapping Act. They were sentenced by a judge without being first indicted by a grand jury. The case was appealed and finally argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1959 (Johnny Ray Smith, v. United States of America [360 U.S. 1]). The attorney for the petitioner was William B. Moore, Jr., of Montgomery, Alabama. The Supreme Court overturned his conviction.
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