Joe Villarreal v. United States

On March 3, 1965, appellant was charged with nine counts of bank robbery ( 18 U.S.C. § 2113 (a) (d)) to which he pleaded not guilty. On March 29, 1965, represented by counsel, he pleaded guilty to two of the counts, and the remaining counts were dismissed. The court thereafter sentenced him to 20 years on one count and 10 years on the other, the sentences to run consecutively.

In June 1967, appellant filed a section 2255 application asserting that his guilty plea had been involuntary because the court had not complied with Rule 11 and because his plea had been induced by an agreement under which he had been promised that his sentence would not exceed 15 years. In denying the application without an evidentiary hearing, the district court concluded that appellant’s petition was frivolous. The court said:

Appellant filed an appeal from the order denying his 1967 motion, but he withdrew the appeal before it was heard.

In June 1971, appellant filed his second application for section 2255 relief, upon grounds substantially similar to those he had asserted in 1967. The district court again denied his motion without an evidentiary hearing. The court observed the similarity between the…