Criminal Law — Habeas corpus — Necessity of hearing — Absence of questions of fact — Robbery — Reference to same check on which grand jury ignored charge of false pretense — Burglary — Single hearing on two indictments — Effective date of sentence.
1. No hearing is required on a habeas corpus petition where no questions of fact are raised on which the taking of testimony is necessary.
2. In a habeas corpus proceeding, in which it appeared that relator, who had been sentenced after pleading guilty to indictments charging robbery and burglary, contended that the indictment charging robbery was invalid because it referred to the same check on which the grand jury had ignored a charge of false pretense (but the indictment plainly alleged that relator robbed the victim by use of force and took cash in a specified amount in addition to the check which he questioned), that the proceedings were illegal because he was not given two separate preliminary examinations, and that he was entitled to credit on his sentence from a specified date (as to which contention the record showed that the effective date of his sentence was five days before that which the penitentiary authorities had computed), and that the court below dismissed the petition as to all points except that it changed the effective date of the sentence to correspond with that shown by the record, it was Held that the order of the court below should be affirmed.
Submitted November 18, 1960.
OPINION PER CURIAM, December 14, 1960:
The order of the court below is affirmed on the opinion of President Judge MCNAUGHER, of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, as reported in 22 Pa. D. C. 2d 595.