Commonwealth v. Satchell

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Roberts,

Appellant is presently serving a life sentence imposed pursuant to a 1964 guilty plea to murder. After an evidentiary hearing during which appellant was represented by court appointed counsel, his first post-conviction petition was denied in April, 1967. No appeal was taken from this denial; rather, appellant filed a second petition which was denied in December, 1967 without a hearing. This appeal, raising two issues of first impression, was taken from that denial.

Initially, appellant contends that subsections (b) and (c) of §4 of the Post Conviction Hearing Act,…