Albert Monroe Colvin v. State Indiana

The petitioner (appellant) was convicted of First Degree Murder and sentenced to life imprisonment upon a plea of guilty entered in 1959. The record from the guilty plea hearing discloses that he was living with Alma Moss and her young children. He and Alma were having domestic problems, and he had been drinking heavily for some time prior to the homicide. On the fateful night, he intended to kill Alma but instead killed her three year old son who somehow got in his line of fire. He fired again at Alma, this time wounding her and then shot himself, inflicting a superficial wound. The matter is now before us on appeal from the denial of a post-conviction petition under Post-Conviction Rule 1, seeking to vacate the judgment, set aside the guilty plea and obtain a jury trial.