The petitioner Fuller pleaded guilty, on July 20, 1972, to an information charging him with sodomy in the third degree.
1 At the hearing on the plea and in other court proceedings he was represented by a local member of the bar appointed by the court upon the petitioner's representation that he was indigent and unable to hire a lawyer. Fuller's counsel in turn hired an investigator to aid in gathering facts for his defense, and the investigator's fees were also assumed by the State. Fuller was subsequently sentenced to five years of probation, conditioned upon his satisfactorily complying with the requirements of a work-release program at the county jail that would permit him to attend college, and also upon his reimbursement to the county of the fees and expenses of the attorney and investigator whose services had been provided him because of his indigent status.
On appeal to the Oregon Court of Appeals, his principal contention was that the State could not constitutionally condition his probation on the repayment of these expenses.2 With one judge dissenting, the imposition of his sentence was affirmed, 12 Or.App. 152, 504 P.2d 1393, and the Supreme Court of Oregon subsequently denied Fuller's petition for review. Because of the importance of the question presented and the conflict of opinion on the constitutional issue involved,3 we granted certiorari, 414 U.S. 1111, 94 S.Ct. 840, 38 L.Ed.2d 737.
was he pitcher or catcher?