State Ex Rel. Burton v. Whyte

Miller, Justice:

James Michael Burton in this original writ of habeas corpus contends that his guilty plea was based on incompetent advice of counsel and that his conviction should therefore be set aside. We disagree and deny the writ.

The central issüe is whether Burton’s trial counsel was incompetent in advising him to plead guilty to a charge of grand larceny when a pretrial motion to suppress Burton’s written confession was denied. The principal challenge to the confession was that it was given by Burton some two days after he had conferred with a municipal police court judge who advised…