Arthur Mitchell v. Perry Johnson, Warden

McCREE, Circuit Judge.

This appeal requires us to decide whether a state may, agreeably to the Constitution, refuse to appoint counsel to assist an indigent defendant in the preparation of an application for discretionary direct appeal to the state supreme court when nonindigent defendants customarily employ counsel for this purpose. We hold that it may not.

Appellant was convicted of unarmed robbery in a Michigan state court and was sentenced to a term of eight to fifteen years in prison. His conviction was affirmed on an appeal as of right to the Michigan Court of Appeals. Because appellant…