Baca v. Gobin

On the 25th day of June, 1959, Fred Baca, the petitioner herein, was found guilty by a jury of the crime of armed robbery. He was sentenced to a term of not less than 4 years nor more than 20 years in the state penitentiary. He was granted a free transcript, but did not sue out writ of error to that conviction.

In 1968, some eight years later, he sought to have counsel appointed by the trial court in order that he might belatedly bring writ of error to the judgment of conviction. The trial court denied Baca’s request for counsel to appeal his original conviction, but, since there was an…