In Re Bell

Our inquiry on this petition for habeas corpus has developed progressively. Originally we issued an order to show cause limited to the questions whether on petitioner’s arraignment in the superior court he had been suffi eiently apprised of his right to counsel and whether his express waiver of that right had been intelligent and effective.

Bell is presently confined in the California State Prison at Folsom, Represa, California, pursuant to a judgment by the Los Angeles Superior Court entered February 7, 1961, after a jury trial and verdict of guilty on two counts, one of violating Penal Code section 286 (sodomy) and a second of violating section 288a (sex perversion).

At the preliminary hearing and in all proceedings before arraignment in the superior court Bell was represented by court-appointed defense counsel, a deputy public defender. There is no showing (and no indication from the record of the preliminary hearing) that such representation was inadequate.

When Bell first appeared for arraignment in the superior court, he appeared without counsel; he told the court he had counsel; the court continued the matter and told petitioner to inform his attorney of the new…