Hirte v. Gladden

This is an appeal from a ruling denying a prisoner post conviction relief.

The petitioner contended that the forty-year sen tenee under which, he is imprisoned as an habitual criminal was fatally defective because the statute under which he was sentenced was either unconstitutional or was unconstitutionally applied in his case.

The trial court held that the petition was barred under the doctrine of res judicata because the petitioner had made three prior efforts in the circuit court to obtain his freedom. Since the petitioner was without counsel when he previously challenged his sentence, those…