Task: songer_geniss

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Your task is to identify the issue in the case, that is, the social and/or political context of the litigation in which more purely legal issues are argued. Put somewhat differently, this field identifies the nature of the conflict between the litigants. The focus here is on the subject matter of the controversy rather than its legal basis. Consider the following categories: "criminal" (including appeals of conviction, petitions for post conviction relief, habeas corpus petitions, and other prisoner petitions which challenge the validity of the conviction or the sentence), "civil rights" (excluding First Amendment or due process; also excluding claims of denial of rights in criminal proceeding or claims by prisoners that challenge their conviction or their sentence (e.g., habeas corpus petitions are coded under the criminal category); does include civil suits instituted by both prisoners and callable non-prisoners alleging denial of rights by criminal justice officials), "First Amendment", "due process" (claims in civil cases by persons other than prisoners, does not include due process challenges to government economic regulation), "privacy", "labor relations", "economic activity and regulation", and "miscellaneous".

PER CURIAM:
This is an appeal from the denial of habeas corpus relief, after a plenary hearing in the District Court.
The appellant is confined by authority of a conviction of robbery by assault with two prior felony convictions proved for enhancement of sentence. He received the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment as a third felonious offender on June 20, 1961. Upon direct appeal, which he prosecuted pro se, the judgment was affirmed. Cedillo v. State, 1962, 171 Tex.Cr.R. 532, 352 S.W.2d 736, cert. denied, 370 U.S. 958, 82 S.Ct. 1611, 8 L.Ed.2d 824.
The appellant has contended that he, an indigent person, was denied representation of counsel in his direct appeal from the judgment of conviction. Since we hold that this point is well taken, we find it unnecessary to discuss here the appellant’s other contentions.-
In his pro se brief upon direct appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the appellant stated that because he was dissatisfied with their conduct of his trial, he dismissed the two attorneys who had defended him by court appointment. These attorneys have filed an affidavit in which they state that they defended the appellant to the best of their ability, but were not requested by him, nor instructed by the trial court, to represent him on appeal.
The appellant further stated in his brief in the Court of Criminal Appeals that he “was denied several times the right to have an appointed counsel” to represent him on appeal. This makes it unnecessary for us to resolve any questions about what the state trial judge might have done with respect to requests (or absence of them) for counsel on appeal.
In no more direct way could petitioner have made a request for appellate counsel. The Court of Criminal Appeals did not even refer to it. He was entitled to such counsel and that Court, if not the State Trial Court, had to furnish it to him. Swenson v. Bosler, 386 U.S. 258, 87 S.Ct. 996, 18 L.Ed.2d 33 (1967); Anders v. State of California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967); Pate v. Holman, 5 Cir., 1965, 341 F.2d 764.
The judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded for the District Court to enter an appropriate order providing the appellant with “a review of his conviction with the aid of counsel on direct appeal as adequate as if counsel had pursued the appeal and rendered the services of an advocate in the first instance.” Merkel v. Beto, 5 Cir., 1968, 387 F.2d 854; Wainwright v. Simpson, 5 Cir., 1966, 360 F.2d 307. This review may take the form of either a regular or extraordinary proceeding but it must be the equivalent of a direct appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in which the Appellant is represented by counsel. Otherwise the District Court will be obliged to issue the writ.
Reversed and remanded.

Question: What is the general issue in the case?
A. criminal
B. civil rights
C. First Amendment
D. due process
E. privacy
F. labor relations
G. economic activity and regulation
H. miscellaneous
Answer:

Answer: A