People v. Johnson

This is one of a quartette of cases dealing with guilty pleas.1

*309This case presents two basic issues before this Court: 1. Whether the defendant’s guilty plea was freely, understandingly, and voluntarily made; 2. Whether the defendant was adequately informed of his constitutional rights by the trial court.

A third question was also raised: Whether the defendant was prejudicially denied counsel at the time of his sentencing.

The defendant Eoger Johnson and one Clifton Downing were charged on August 10, 1962, with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Eugene Oliver. The defendant originally…