Commonwealth ex rel. Fairman v. Cavell

Dissenting Opinion by

Hoffman, J.:

This is an appeal from an order of the lower court denying appellant’s petition for writ of habeas corpus after a hearing. The single legal question of importance is whether appellant, when entering his guilty plea, understandingly and intelligently waived his con-, stitutional right to counsel. In my opinion, it is clear that the Commonwealth failed to sustain its burden of proving that appellant did intelligently and understandingly waive this right.

The facts may be set out briefly:

*164On December 29, 1960, appellant was apprehended by the Pennsylvania State…