Julius Hairston v. State of Alabama

JOHN R. BROWN, Chief Judge:

As this appeal from denial of habeas corpus percolates to us the substantive question is whether petitioner-appellant had counsel at the time he withdrew his former plea of not guilty and entered a guilty plea to an Alabama charge of burglary. The Federal District Court, although going to the brink of squarely holding absence of counsel, stopped short by his determination that petitioner had failed to exhaust his state remedies. We hold the Judge erred in this assessment which brings into play the question of what should now be done. In this roundabout fashion we…