Court Opinion

ID: 9458063
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:41:58.090009+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:37.507818
License: Public Domain

HASTINGS, Senior Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I concur in the result reached by the majority in this case solely on the ground that petitioner Macon was deprived of his right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution as a result of the continued denial of his fundamental right to a direct appeal of his conviction to the Supreme Court of Indiana. To cut through the long and tortuous maze of judicial proceedings now comprising the history of this case, it is clear to me, at least, that petitioner has been denied his right to appeal in the face of the failure of his otherwise competent court-appointed counsel to timely file a motion for a new trial following his conviction because of his lawyer’s self-admitted lack of appellate experience in criminal matters. It further appears from counsel’s affidavit that he intended to present legally sufficient questions in his intended belated appeal. I express no view as to how the Supreme Court of Indiana would rule in deciding such an appeal. I would only entertain the pious hope that it will consider the appeal and finally pass upon it.