Edward Morgan MacKenna v. O. B. Ellis, Director, Texas Department of Corrections

WISDOM, Circuit Judge:

This case is before us for the second time on an appeal from a denial of the writ of habeas corpus. See MacKenna v. Ellis, 5 Cir., 1959, 263 F.2d 35.

Edward MacKenna was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for the theft of a camera valued at $250. Since March 12, 1956, he has been confined in the Dallas County Jail and in the Texas Penitentiary.

MacKenna is an educated man, a graduate of Northwestern University in 1934. He has worked as a reporter for a number of newspapers and has been a feature writer for several periodicals. But Edward MacKenna has seven convictions…