Opinion
Submitted November 10, 1969.
January 30, 1970.
Criminal Law — Counsel for defendant — Appeals — Indigent defendant.
In this case, in which it appeared that, after a plea of guilty, the court below found defendant guilty of murder in the first degree; and that defendant alleged that his attorneys had abandoned him after his guilty plea and the judgment of sentence; it was Held that, since the appeal was taken by an indigent defendant without the assistance of counsel, the case should be remanded to the court below for the appointment of counsel, for the purpose of the taking and perfecting and prosecuting of an appeal.
Before BELL, C. J., JONES, COHEN, EAGEN, O'BRIEN, ROBERTS and POMEROY, JJ.
Appeal, No. 378, Jan. T., 1969, from judgment of Court of Oyer and Terminer of Lancaster County, March T., 1968, No. 275, in case of Commonwealth v. Grover G. Sanger, Sr. Case remanded.
Indictment charging defendant with murder. Before JOHNSTONE, JR., J., without a jury.
Defendant entered a plea of guilty; judgment of sentence entered thereon. Defendant appealed.
Grover G. Sanger, Sr., appellant, in propria persona.
Henry J. Rutherford, First Assistant District Attorney, and Clarence C. Newcomer, District Attorney, for Commonwealth, appellee.
After a plea of guilty, the Court found defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and imposed a sentence of life imprisonment.
Defendant now alleges, inter alia, that his attorneys abandoned him after his guilty plea and the Court's aforesaid judgment of sentence. Since this appeal was taken by an indigent defendant without the assistance of counsel, the case is remanded to the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County, Criminal Division, for the appointment of counsel, for the purpose of the taking and perfecting and prosecution of an appeal. Commonwealth v. Wilson, 430 Pa. 1, 241 A.2d 760; Commonwealth ex rel. Light v. Cavell, 422 Pa. 215, 220 A.2d 883; Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353.