Billy Joe Wright v. Fred R. Dickson, Warden, California State Penitentiary

BROWNING, Circuit Judge.

I

Appellant is serving a prison sentence imposed by a California Superior Court following his plea of guilty to a charge of burglary. After exhausting state remedies, he petitioned the district court for a writ of habeas corpus. The petition alleged that he had not had counsel and had not knowingly and intelligently waived counsel. He alleged that he had lacked “the intelligence and competency” to waive an attorney; that at the time of his conviction he was “an ignorant and illiterate young man, unversed in Legal Procedure, with no record.”

The district court issued an…