Wilbur M. Johnson v. Louie L. Wainwright, Director, Division of Corrections, State of Florida

Wilbur M. Johnson represented by privately retained counsel pled guilty in a Florida court to a charge of breaking and entering. He was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment and no direct appeal was taken. Thereafter, he made several unsuccessful efforts to obtain state post-conviction relief. He subsequently sought habeas corpus relief in the United States District Court upon two grounds: (1) that his plea of guilty was involuntary because both the trial court and his privately retained counsel had erroneously advised him that the maximum sentence was fifteen years when in fact it was…