Wade v. Wilson
Headline: Prisoner’s bid for a free trial transcript is put on hold as the Court vacates lower rulings and sends the case back while the prisoner tries to get access to the record.
Holding:
- Leaves unresolved whether States must provide free transcripts for indigent prisoners.
- Requires courts to wait while prisoners seek access to existing copies before ruling.
- Vacates lower rulings and sends the case back for further proceedings after access efforts.
Summary
Background
A man convicted of murder and his codefendant appealed and shared one free trial transcript for the direct appeal; the codefendant later refused to share it. The State Attorney General had lent a copy for the appeal, and the conviction was affirmed in 1961. Years later the convicted man wanted his own copy to pursue a collateral challenge and asked California courts for one but was told copies could be made only at his expense or that he must seek access from whoever held the original. He then filed a federal petition in 1967 saying that, because he was indigent, the State’s refusal to give him a free copy violated his rights. The federal trial court ordered the State to provide the transcript or release him; the Court of Appeals reversed.
Reasoning
The main question was whether the Constitution requires a State to provide a free trial transcript to an indigent prisoner who seeks to challenge a conviction after the direct appeal. The Court said this is a new constitutional question and declined to decide it now. Noting that the prisoner had once borrowed a copy for his direct appeal and had not shown he could not obtain access by other means, the Court vacated the lower courts’ rulings, sent the case back for further proceedings, and told the trial court to keep the case open while the prisoner tries to get access to the record, dismissing the petition once access is provided.
Real world impact
The decision leaves unresolved whether States must supply free transcripts for post-conviction challenges. It tells lower courts not to reach the constitutional question prematurely and to wait while an indigent prisoner tries to obtain or borrow the record. Practically, prisoners must first try to get access to existing copies before a federal court decides transcript claims.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice Black dissented, saying the petitioner showed no new facts suggesting innocence and that the Court should not have reviewed the case; he would have dismissed the writ as improvidently granted.
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