Fortson v. Hopper

Marshall, Justice.

This is a habeas corpus appeal. The petitioner is presently serving five concurrent 20-year sentences for burglary based upon guilty pleas, and sentences of 20 years, 10 years and life for burglary, aggravated assault and rape, respectively, based upon pleas of nolo contendere. The ground of his petition is that his life sentence for rape must be set aside because it was imposed on a plea of nolo contendere, in contravention of Code Ann. § 27-1408 (Ga. L. 1946, p. 142), which provides, "The defendant in all criminal cases other than capital felonies, in any court of this…