Gordon Lee Wilkins v. Donald R. Erickson, Warden

Before CHAMBERS and CARTER, Circuit Judges, and LINDBERG, District Judge.

This appeal is from a denial of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 , following a state conviction. The district court held an evi-dentiary hearing.

The case is apparently one of first impression in this circuit and raises the following major questions:

1. Is a guilty plea voluntarily and intelligently made under Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238 , 89 S.Ct. 1709 , 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969) and cases following, if the defendant at the time of pleading guilty is not specifically advised by the State court judge that by pleading guilty he will waive his privilege against self-incrimination, his right to trial by jury, and his right to confront his accusers?

2. Does a post-conviction evidentiary hearing conducted by a federal district court on the question of voluntariness violate the “spirit” of Boykinl

THE FACTS

Appellant Wilkins, represented by counsel, was brought to trial before a jury in the District Court of Cascade County, Montana, on a charge of murder in the first degree. During the third day of the trial, after twenty-two state witnesses had testified and had been…