Harris v. Cupp

This is an appeal by petitioner from a judgment in which the trial court dismissed the post-conviction petition and denied relief.

Petitioner received a four-year sentence in 1968 on a charge of being an ex-convict in possession of a firearm, based on a 1951 federal court guilty plea conviction of theft from interstate shipment. ① Petitioner claims the 1951 conviction was invalid because he was not advised of his right to court-appointed counsel at public expense.

The petitioner testified in the post-conviction trial that neither the U. S. attorney nor the court had informed him of his right to…