Commonwealth ex rel. Bruno v. Rundle

Weinrott, J.,

How far are the echoes of “Gideon’s Trumpet” 1 to reach? That, in essence, is the question bef ore us in this case and in the spate of allied habeas corpus applications now pending in our court.2

Underlying that question and influencing the answer to it, perhaps, is another of even wider import: How far must the constitutional provisions be drawn for the protection of accused criminals in disregard of the rights and safety of the almost 200,000,000 law-abiding citizens of our Nation who are increasingly threatened by criminal depredation?

On March 18, 1963, in the epochal ruling of…