Henry Charles Cooks v. United States

JOHN R. BROWN, Chief Judge:

By § 2255 Motion to Vacate Petitioner here challenges his 1971 conviction for transporting forged securities in interstate commerce. Finding that on this record the guilty plea which produced the conviction was neither knowing nor voluntary and that the indigent defendant did not receive effective assistance from his court-appointed counsel, we reverse the District Court’s hearingless denial of § 2255 post-conviction relief.

Defendant, a virtual illiterate with a minimal, sixth-grade education, was charged on a facially defective six-count indictment. Count I of the…