Appellant Hall is confined in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester, Oklahoma, where he is serving a life sentence for armed robbery. He brought this habeas corpus action alleging that his plea of guilty to the charge was coerced. Relying upon a state court decision denying relief to Hall, the action was dismissed without a hearing. Hall appeals.

The record discloses that while an escapee from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Hall, on August 5, 1940, participated in an armed robbery, and in resisting arrest by law enforcement officers on August 9, 1940, he suffered numerous gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he was thought to be near death. On August 13, 1940, he was removed by ambulance to Sapulpa, Oklahoma, and the next day was taken on a stretcher before the Creek County district court for arraignment. After arrival in the courtroom he was given an injection of morphine, and thereafter an attorney was designated to represent him. After a brief conference, the attorney announced that Hall was ready to proceed, and upon arraignment a guilty plea was entered. The statutory delay in sentencing was waived, and sentence was then pronounced.1 Hall was immediately taken to the penitentiary where a series of blood transfusions, apparently necessary to save his life, was administered.

In 1950 Hall instituted habeas corpus proceedings directly in the Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeals. The case was disposed of in that court by consideration of the allegations in the petition and the transcript of proceedings in the Creek County district court. The appellate court concluded that the plea of guilty had been voluntarily entered, and accordingly, it dismissed the action. Ex Parte Hall, 91 Okla. Crim. 11, 215 P.2d 587. See, also, Okl.Cr., 261 P.2d 475.

In substance, the petition alleges that the plea of guilty was involuntary, having been coerced by a county sheriff who advised Hall that he would receive no further medical attention, and would not be taken to the state penitentiary for hospital treatment until after a plea of guilty to the pending charges.

In cases of this kind, federal courts are generally bound by factual determinations of state courts made after a full and fair hearing. But when it is alleged that a plea of guilty is coerced, and the constitutionality of the proceedings is properly questioned, federal courts are duty-bound to make an independent investigation and determine from the entire record whether the finding of the state court has substantial support in the evidence. Burns v. Crouse, 10 Cir., 353 F.2d 489; Pate v. Page, 10 Cir., 325 F.2d 567, cert. denied 379 U.S. 909, 85 S. Ct. 205, 13 L. Ed. 2d 181. In Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 313, 83 S. Ct. 745, 757, 9 L. Ed. 2d 770, the Supreme Court said:

'We hold that a federal court must grant an evidentiary hearing to a habeas applicant under that following circumstances: If (1) the merits of the factual dispute were not resolved in the state hearing; (2) the state factual determination is not fairly supported by the record as a whole; (3) the fact-finding procedure employed by the state court was not adequate to afford a full and fair hearing; (4) there is a substantial allegation of newly discovered evidence; (5) the material facts were not adequately developed at the state-court hearing; or (6) for any reason it appears that the state trier of fact did not afford the habeas applicant a full and fair fact hearing.'

See, also, Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391, 83 S. Ct. 822, 9 L. Ed. 2d 837.

While litigation, civil or criminal, must end sometime, it seems quite clear that where constitutional rights are involved, federal courts are required to hear the questions presented unless the issue is foreclosed by appropriate previous state court proceedings. State court findings on constitutional issues may be adopted in federal courts only when made after a full and fair hearing on the merits. Townsend v. Sain, supra. It is admitted here that Hall's plea of guilty was accepted under most unusual circumstances. The Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeals disposed of Hall's habeas corpus action on the record made when the plea of guilty was entered and the sentence pronounced. He has never had an evidentiary hearing on his allegation of coercion in connection with the plea of guilty.

Reversed and remanded for hearing.