King

Appellant, an inmate of the Washington State Penitentiary, filed his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the district court, alleging that in a criminal proceeding in the superior court of that State he had been induced to plead guilty to a charge of grand larceny by false representations of a state prosecuting officer in charge of the prosecution, and that in another and later charge filed against him in the same court wherein he was charged with the crime of being an habitual criminal, one of the three convictions on which the charge was based, being the above case in which he claimed the false representations were made, he was unlawfully convicted, without the intervention of, and trial before, a jury.

The lower court granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis and appellant was produced before the court and a hearing had on May 13, 1946. By answer to the petition and return to show cause, appellee put in issue all of the material allegations of appellant’s petition.

Before proceeding with the hearing, the court inquired of appellant whether he was appearing pro se in his own behalf or was represented by counsel. Appellant advised the court that he was ready to proceed on…