Anders v. California

386 U.S. 738 (1967)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Anders (D) was convicted of the felony of possession of marijuana. D appealed. and moved that the California District Court of Appeal appoint counsel for him. That motion was granted. The appointed counsel concluded that there was no merit to the appeal. He advised the court by letter and, at the same time, informed the court that D wished to file a brief in his own behalf. D requested the appointment of another attorney. This request was denied, and D proceeded to file his own brief pro se. The State responded, and D filed a reply brief. On January 9, 1959, the District Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed the conviction. On January 21, 1965, D filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus in the District Court of Appeal raising the issue of deprivation of the right to counsel in his original appeal because of the court's refusal to appoint counsel at the appellate stage of the proceedings. The court denied the application. D submitted a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to the Supreme Court of California, and the petition was denied without opinion by that court on July 14, 1965. D claimed that both the judge and the prosecutor had commented on his failure to testify contrary to the holding of this Court in Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609 (1965). The Supreme Court granted certiorari.