In Re McConnell

THE COURT.

This is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and writ of certiorari ancillary thereto. On December 31, 1928, petitioner was charged in the Superior Court of Contra Costa County with grand theft, a felony, and with two prior convictions of grand larceny. He pleaded guilty to the charge of grand theft, admitted the two prior convictions, and was thereupon adjudged an habitual criminal, and sentenced to life imprisonment at Folsom prison, under the terms of section 644 of the Penal Code.

Petitioner’s theory is that proof of an essential element necessary to adjudge him an habitual…