Commonwealth ex rel. Firmstone v. Myers

Greevy, J.,

— Relator, Nathaniel Firmstone, has filed two petitions, one for the appointment of an attorney to assist him in the presentation of his case and the second one for the allowance of a writ of error coram nobis. We will consider the petitions seriatim.

The petition for the appointment of counsel presents the more difficult problem. It is now the law of the land that indigent defendants in a criminal prosecution in a State court have the right to have counsel appointed for them unless that right is competently and intelligently waived: Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963).

It has…