United States of America Ex Rel. Theodore Baker v. Frederick Finkbeiner, Warden, Pontiac Correctional Center

SWYGERT, Circuit Judge.

In this case petitioner seeks a writ of habeas corpus because he was not told that he would have to serve a mandatory parole term at the time he agreed to plead guilty to state criminal charges. We hold that in the circumstances of petitioner’s case the failure of the prosecutor and the trial court to advise him of the mandatory parole term created a defect of constitutional dimensions in his guilty plea. We therefore reverse the judgment of the district court denying the writ of habeas corpus.

I

On January 24, 1974 petitioner Theodore Baker pled guilty in the Circuit…