Court Opinion

ID: 9620737
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:46:50.385034+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:53.870667
License: Public Domain

Gunter, Justice,
dissenting.
I would reverse the judgment below and direct the habeas court to order a new probation revocation hearing at which appellant would be represented by appointed counsel if he is in fact indigent. My view on this subject has been made plain. A Georgia statute provides for a hearing before a trial judge on the issue of revocation. The same statute provides for representation by counsel at the revocation hearing. And the constitutional principle of equal protection requires the appointment of counsel for indigent probationers at a revocation hearing. See my dissenting opinion in Reece v. Pettijohn, supra, and Justice Ingram’s dissenting opinion in Mercer v. Hopper, supra. See also the Fifth Circuit decision in Cottle v. Wainwright, 447 F2d 269 (1973).
I also think that the Fifth Circuit decision in Lane v. Attorney General of the United States, 477 F2d 847 (1973), on the issue of a "knowing and intelligent waiver” of counsel at a probation revocation hearing, is clearly applicable in this case.
*794I respectfully dissent. I am authorized to state that Justice Ingram joins in this dissent.