United States v. Bernard Ulano

Ulano was convicted in 1977, on his guilty plea, of conspiracy to distribute cocaine (21 U.S.C. § 846) and sentenced to four years custody followed by a special parole term. Before he was sentenced, he moved to withdraw the guilty plea on the ground that it was not voluntarily and knowingly made. His appeal, United States v. Ulano, 9 Cir., 571 F.2d 589, resulted in a remand to permit vacation of the sentence and consideration of the motion to withdraw the guilty plea. As the appeal had included an attack on the district judge who had taken the guilty plea, the matter was assigned to a…