Oliver R. Norris v. Lawrence E. Wilson, Warden, California State Prison, San Quentin, California

This is an appeal from the denial of a writ of habeas corpus in the district court. ( 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241 , 2253.)

On February 14, 1951, appellant was arrested for the armed robbery of a pharmacy in Stockton, California. He had been shot three times in the stomach and was taken to a hospital for emergency treatment. An operation was allegedly performed on him, using sodium pentothal as an anaesthetic.

On March 19, 1951, appellant was arraigned on two charges of armed robbery, but the arraignments were continued to March 20, 1951, so that an attorney could be appointed to represent appellant at the arraignments. At appellant’s request, the public defender was appointed to represent him. A preliminary examination was waived by appellant, and he was bound over for trial.

On March 22, 1951, appellant, represented by his attorney, pleaded guilty to two counts in Information #10749 and one count in Information #10750. The matter was referred to the probation officer (Calif.Penal Code § 1203) and April 5th, 1951 was the date set for pronouncing sentence. At the sentencing, on April 5th, 1951 appellant, with his counsel present, expressly admitted he was in possession of a deadly weapon…

(dissenting):

The appellant’s petition for habeas corpus alleges that his guilty plea was the product of (1) a promise of leniency, and (2) a prior involuntary confession.

To avoid possible future misunderstanding, it should be emphasized that the majority does not hold that appellant’s theory of relief is legally insufficient. Either of the grounds relied upon, if established by proof, would vitiate appellant’s guilty plea, and the majority does not hold to the contrary. The holding is rather that appellant failed to allege either ground adequately.

*328 It has long been axiomatic that a guilty plea induced by a promise of leniency is vulnerable to collateral attack. 1 2 The law has been less clear where the guilty plea was induced by a coerced confession. As the majority points out, there are numerous holdings that a guilty plea cannot be attacked on the bare ground that evidence against the accused was secured by unconstitutional means. The district court based its ruling on these decisions. “But,” as Judge Duniway said in Doran v. Wilson, 369 F.2d 505, 507 (9th Cir. 1966), “there is another side to this legal coin. We have several times held that a guilty plea, ‘induced’ by…

378 F.2d 324 Oliver R. NORRIS, Appellant, v. Lawrence E. WILSON, Warden, California State Prison, San Quentin, California, Appellee. No. 20700. United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit. May 23, 1967. Oliver R. Norris, in pro. per. Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen., Robert R. Granucci, John T. Murphy, Deputy Attys. Gen., San Francisco, Cal., for appellee. Before BARNES and BROWNING, Circuit Judges, and THOMPSON, District judge. BARNES, Circuit Judge: 1 This is an appeal from the denial of a writ of habeas corpus in the district court. (28 U.S.C. 2241, 2253.) 2 On February 14, 1951, appellant was arrested for the armed robbery of a pharmacy in Stockton, California. He had been shot three times in the stomach and was taken to a hospital for emergency treatment. An operation was allegedly performed on him, using sodium pentothal as an anaesthetic. 3 On March 19, 1951, appellant was arraigned on two charges of armed robbery, but the arraignments were continued to March 20, 1951, so that an attorney could be appointed to represent appellant at the arraignments. At appellant's request, the public defender was appointed to represent him. A preliminary examination was waived by appellant,…