Opinion
Submitted November 10, 1958.
January 5, 1959.
Criminal law — Murder — First degree — Habeas corpus.
In this appeal from the dismissal of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, in which it appeared that following the relator's plea of guilty to murder the court en banc had found him guilty of murder in the first degree and had unanimously imposed a sentence of life imprisonment, from which no appeal was taken, it was Held that the court below had properly dismissed the petition.
Before JONES, C. J., BELL, MUSMANNO, JONES, COHEN and BOK, JJ.
Appeal, No. 261, Jan. T., 1958, from order dismissing petition for writ of habeas corpus, Court of Common Pleas No. 1 of Philadelphia County, March T., 1958, No. 202, in case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ex rel. Sebron Dandy v. William J. Banmiller, Warden. Order affirmed.
Habeas corpus.
Order entered dismissing petition for writ, opinion by CARROLL, P. J. Relator appealed.
Sebron Dandy, appellant, in propria persona.
Charles Lee Durham and Juanita Kidd Stout, Assistant District Attorneys, James N. Lafferty, First Assistant District Attorney, and Victor H. Blanc, District Attorney, for appellee.
This matter came before the court below on the relator's petition in forma pauperis for a writ of habeas corpus seeking his release from the Eastern State Penitentiary where he is serving a sentence of life imprisonment. The sentence was imposed following the relator's conviction of murder in the first degree by a court en banc, composed of three judges, on his plea of guilty generally to an indictment charging him with murder. The court was unanimous in its finding as to the degree of the murder, and the sentence of life imprisonment, which is authorized by the statute in the circumstances, was likewise unanimous. No appeal was taken from the judgment of sentence. In the proceeding here involved, the court below justifiably dismissed the relator's petition for the reasons set forth in the opinion of President Judge CARROLL. The appeal is without merit and the order of dismissal must necessarily be affirmed.
Order affirmed.