Roy E. McGuirk v. Michael Fair

LOUGHLIN, District Judge.

The issue in this habeas corpus appeal is whether the defendant voluntarily pled guilty to an indictment charging second degree murder. The defendant was indicted by the Grand Jury for the County of Middlesex in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for murder in the first degree. On July 14, 1975 defendant pled guilty to murder in the second degree and was sentenced to a life term at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Walpole. Approximately a year later on July 16, 1976 the defendant filed a motion for a new trial requesting that he be allowed to withdraw his…