Nelson v. Lockhart

ORDER

EISELE, Chief Judge.

Petitioner Johnny Lee Nelson pled guilty to burglary, a class B felony, and misdemeanor theft, after taking $45.00 from a vending machine in 1979. Petitioner was then sentenced by a jury under the Arkansas Habitual Offender statute to twenty years imprisonment. The state court jury which sentenced Nelson did so on the basis of evidence of four prior felony convictions introduced by the state in the course of a separate sentencing proceeding subsequent to petitioner’s plea of guilt. 1 In his habeas corpus petition now pending before the Court, petitioner asserts that…