Ellis v. State

Paul Ward, Justice.

This is a Criminal Procedure Bule No. 1 proceeding wherein Charles Ellis (appellant) contends his constitutional rights were violated when he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the penitentiary.

On September 1, 1958 appellant was charged with murder in the first degree for slaying A. Z. Cromwell on August 26, 1958. Upon arraignment he pleaded guilty. A jury, upon hearing testimony, fixed his punishment as previously stated, and he began serving the sentence.

Approximately eight years later appellant filed a petition in circuit court of Saline County (where he had been…