LeBlanc v. Commonwealth

This petition for a writ of error relates to the 1955 convictions considered by this court in Commonwealth v. Devlin, 335 Mass. 555. In that case on March 20, 1957, we affirmed the convictions of LeBlanc and his two codefendants, Arsenault and Devlin, for the first degree murder of Merrill Lovinger.

On April 29, 1963, the Supreme Court in White v. Maryland, 373 U. S. 59, held that it was constitutional error to permit the admission in evidence of a guilty plea made at a prior arraignment where the defendant did not have the assistance of counsel. Following this decision, LeBlanc’s codefendant…