Commonwealth v. Meholchick
Commonwealth v. Meholchick
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Raymond Meholchick, charged with the attempted rape and the murder of a young girl, entered a guilty plea to murder generally on February 8, 1945. At the time he was represented by two privately-retained attorneys. At a degree of guilt hearing on July 2, 1945, a three-judge court found him guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Appellant then filed several petitions for habeas corpus in the state courts. They were dismissed, and his appeals to this Court were equally without success. Commonwealth ex rel. Meholchick v. Rundle, 420 Pa. 629, 215 A. 2d 636 (1966); Commonwealth ex rel. Meholchick v. Maroney, 414 Pa. 649, 199 A. 2d 414 (1964); Commonwealth ex rel. Meholchick v. Maroney, 409 Pa. 381, 186 A. 2d 919, cert. denied, 373 U.S. 941, 83 S. Ct. 1547 (1963).
On February 10, 1969, Meholchick filed a petition under the Post Conviction Hearing Act, and it was dismissed without a hearing. The sole question raised on appeal is whether the hearing court erred in not affording Meholchick a hearing. Appellant alleged various points of error, but the trial court dismissed because the petition did not contain sufficient facts which, if proven, would entitle him to relief. The hearing Court, however, gave appellant an opportunity to amend his petition, so that he could include the necessary facts. Act of January 25,1966, P. L. (1965) 1580, §7, 19 P.S. §1180-7; Commonwealth v. Stokes, 426 Pa. 265, 232 A. 2d 193 (1967).
“Section 9 [of the PCHA] requires a hearing only where the facts alleged would entitle petitioner to relief. Although the appellant’s legal conclusions . . . form a sufficient basis for relief, there aré no facts alleged which in legal contemplation support these conclusions.” Commonwealth v. Snyder, 427 Pa. 83, 102, 233 A. 2d 530, 540 (1967), cert. denied, 390 U.S. 983, 88 S. Ct. 1104 (1968).
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