Balkcom v. Turner
| Decision Date | 08 February 1962 |
| Docket Number | No. 21512,21512 |
| Citation | 217 Ga. 610,123 S.E.2d 918 |
| Parties | R. P. BALKCOM, Jr., Warden, v. Benjamin F. TURNER. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
The undisputed facts showed a denial of the accused's right to counsel, and therefore the trial court's judgment making the writ of habeas corpus absolute was correct.
Eugene Cook, Atty. Gen., Earl L. Hickman, Asst. Atty. Gen., B. Daniel Dubberly, Jr., Deputy Asst. Atty. Gen., for plaintiff in error.
Benjamin F. Turner, pro se.
Asserting that he had been denied the right of legal counsel, and that he had not in fact pleaded guilty to an indictment for forgery and passing a forged check, Benjamin F. Turner filed a habeas corpus petition in the City Court of Reidsville against the warden of the Georgia State Prison, where he was confined.
The respondent warden filed an answer denying the essential allegations of the petition. Upon a hearing, at which oral and documentary evidence was introduced, the trial judge entered a judgment making the writ of habeas corpus absolute. Declaring that all proceedings subsequent to the indictment were null and void, he ordered that the warden deliver the petitioner to the sheriff of Muscogee County for arraignment and proper disposition of the charges against him. The respondent warden assigned error upon that judgment.
The record as to what occurred upon the habeas corpus hearing is meager indeed. The facts must be gleaned from the brief recount in the bill of exceptions and the one paragraph brief of evidence. It appears that the indictment referred to above was returned against the petitioner at the February Term, 1961, of Muscogee Superior Court, and charged him with forgery and passing a forged check; that a plea of guilty was signed by the solicitor general and that a sentence of from four to seven years, reciting that the petitioner had pleaded guilty, was signed by one of the judges of that court.
The petitioner was the only witness upon the habeas corpus hearing and his entire testimony was: ...
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Nash v. State
...v. Williams, 220 Ga. 359(1), 138 S.E.2d 873 (1964); Balkcom v. Vickers, 220 Ga. 345(1), 138 S.E.2d 868 (1964); Balkcom v. Turner, 217 Ga. 610, 123 S.E.2d 918 (1962). In light of these Georgia precedents, the testimony of a defendant who challenges the use of a prior guilty plea should also ......
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Whippler v. Balkcom, 21726.
...875; Balkcom v. Vickers, 1964, 220 Ga. 345, 138 S.E.2d 868; Hunsucker v. Balkcom, 1964, 220 Ga. 73, 137 S.E.2d 43; Balkcom v. Turner, 1962, 217 Ga. 610, 123 S.E.2d 918; Fair v. Balkcom, 1961, 216 Ga. 721, 119 S.E.2d 691; Grammer v. Balkcom, 1959, 214 Ga. 691, 107 S.E. 213; Wilcoxson v. Aldr......
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Balkcom v. Vickers
...to denial of counsel, and therefore the habeas corpus court's judgment in his favor on this contention must be affirmed. Balkcom v. Turner, 217 Ga. 610, 123 S.E.2d 918. The contention is made here by the respondent that the petitioner's testimony as to denial of counsel, being uncorroborate......
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Balkcom v. Townsend
...error that it operates to render the trial illegal and void.' See also Fair v. Balkcom, 216 Ga. 721, 119 S.E.2d 691; Balkcom v. Turner, 217 Ga. 610, 123 S.E.2d 918. The uncontradicted testimony of the petitioner shows conclusively that the contentions made in the present petition for habeas......