Jess Cancino v. Walter E. Craven

Cancino, a state prisoner, appeals from a district court order denying his petition for federal habeas relief, 305 F.Supp. 539 . He has filed eighteen petitions to various state courts in California, attacking his 1962 guilty plea. All were summarily denied. This appeal is from the denial of his second federal petition. He has never had an evidentiary hearing in any court.

His prior federal petition and such of his state petitions as we have been able to examine basically aver that his guilty plea was involuntary and was not knowingly and intelligently made because (1) he was not aware of the relevant circumstances and likely consequences of his plea or of his admission of a prior felony when his plea was entered, (2) his counsel was ineffective, (3) the prosecutor promised him leniency that he did not receive, (4) his plea was induced by a coerced confession, and (5) his plea was also induced by illegally obtained evidence.

Cancino was arrested in 1961 for possessing heroin. He was stopped for a traffic violation. According to the testimony of the arresting officer, Cancino tossed a brown bag from the car. The officer retrieved the bag and found heroin in it. While he was in…