United States of America Ex Rel. George Fink, E-8912 v. Alfred T. Rundle, Superintendent, State Correctional Institution, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

OPINION OF THE COURT

FREEDMAN, Circuit Judge.

This habeas corpus petition graphically illustrates the undesirability of the practice, widespread until very recently, of accepting pleas of guilty without that penetrating inquiry which searches out the mind of the defendant and clearly reveals on the record that his plea was made voluntarily and knowingly.

Petitioner was indicted in the Court of Quarter Sessions in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on a number of charges. Those before us now were on two indictments for furnishing intoxicants to minors 1 and an indictment containing two counts of…