Welton Vanhook v. Walter E. Craven

Petitioner-appellant filed a petition for habeas corpus alleging violation of his constitutional rights in proceedings in the California state courts which resulted in his conviction and imprisonment for selling marihuana.

He alleged that he was denied his right to plead not guilty, to confront and cross examine witnesses, and to the effective assistance of trial counsel, because his trial counsel stipulated to the submission of his case on the grand jury transcript, without petitioner’s consent and without informing petitioner that such a submission was tantamount to a plea of guilty. The district court declined to consider the merits of this claim on the ground that it had been presented in a previous petition for habeas corpus and rejected by another judge of the district court, in a judgment affirmed by this court on August 5, 1965. Van Hook v. Eklund, 348 F.2d 920 (9th Cir. 1965).

As petitioner points out, subsequent to this court’s affirmance of the district court’s rejection of his first petition, the Supreme Court of the United States rendered a number of decisions which have a direct and substantial bearing upon the constitutional issues underlying his claim. See…