United States of America Ex Rel. Edward Abair v. Walter H. Wilkins, Warden, Attica State Prison, Attica, New York

In his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, Abair contends that a 1927 eon-viction of robbery, employed as the predicate .for his present recidivist sentence, was entered in the absence of counsel. 1 Finding that petitioner’s allegations were afforded a “full hearing on the merits” in a 1957 state coram nobis proceeding, the District Court denied the petition on the basis of the state court record. On appeal, petitioner insists that the Supreme Court’s subsequent decision in Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963), requires a hearing de novo in the federal habeas…