Tommy G. Shead v. Donald L. Quatsoe, Muriel Douglas Black v. Wilbur Schmidt

Each petitioner claims that the failure to appoint counsel to represent him at his parole revocation hearing deprived him of due process. The district court denied both petitions for habeas corpus. While the appeals were pending here, the Supreme Court considered the question whether counsel must be appointed in such hearings. Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778, 93 S.Ct. 1756, 36 L.Ed.2d 656. The question we must now decide is the extent to which Scarpelli applies retroactively.

In Scarpelli the Supreme Court reversed our holding in Gunsolus v. Gagnon, 454 F.2d 416 (1971), that due process…