Junior Ray Lester v. Lawrence E. Wilson, Warden, California State Prison, San Quentin, California

Junior Ray Lester, in custody under a California state judgment of conviction and sentence entered on February 19, 1963, appeals from a district court order denying, without hearing, his application for a writ of habeas corpus.

Lester asserts that a tape-recorded confession was obtained while he was in police custody and without first advising him of his right to remain silent, and his right to retained or appointed counsel. Admission of this tape recording in evidence against him, Lester contends, therefore deprived him of due process.

The right to such a warning prior to police interrogation while in custody was specifically recognized by the Supreme Court for the first time in Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478 , 84 S.Ct. 1758 , 12 L.Ed.2d 977 , and Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 , 86 S.Ct. 1602 , 16 L.Ed.2d 694 . It has since been decided, however, that the rules announced in those decisions are not to be applied retroactively. Johnson v. New Jersey, 384 U.S. 719 , 86 S.Ct. 1772 , 16 L.Ed.2d 882 . It follows that Lester is not entitled to habeas corpus relief on the described ground.

Lester further argues that, apart from the question of right to counsel, the admission in…