Hall

Appellant, seeking release on a writ of habeas corpus from the District Court, is imprisoned in the custody of the Warden of the United States Penitentiary at Alcatraz Island, California.

The District Court denied the writ and dismissed the petition. On a former appeal (Hall v. Johnston, 9 Cir., 91 F.2d 363 ) this court reversed the order denying the petition for the writ, holding that the petition sufficiently alleged a conviction by a judge knowing that the prisoner was insane at the time of his pica of guilty and that under Mooney v. Holohan, 294 U.S. 103 , 55 S.Ct. 340 , 79 L.Ed. 791 , 98 A.L.R. 406 , he was entitled to offer his proof of that allegation.

Our opinion in that appeal discussed the question of the waiver of right of counsel without the benefit of the decision in Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458 , 58 S.Ct. 1019 , 82 L.Ed. 1461 , respecting the right in habeas corpus to show that the accused had not “competently and intelligently” made such a waiver.

In conformity with the decision on the appeal, the District Court issued an order to show cause why the writ should not issue, to which the Warden made a return. Thereafter the writ was issued, the petitioner,…