Harold Lee Jones v. Superintendent, Virginia State Farm

CRAVEN, Circuit Judge:

This excellent petition for rehearing is deserving of our most careful attention. Not only is the petitioner entitled to a complete explanation of an apparent disregard of precedent, but so also is the bar, and we are grateful to able and persistent counsel for affording us a long-awaited opportunity to explain to the bar and to the public some of our internal procedures in the disposition of what has become an enormous annual caseload.

The question on appeal in this case was whether there is a constitutional obligation on the states to furnish free to indigents trial…