Harry Roberts, Jr. v. Sherman H. Crouse, Warden, Kansas State Penitentiary, Lansing, Kansas

The appellants Roberts, a prisoner in the Kansas State Penitentiary, brought this habeas corpus action in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, alleging that he was unlawfully sentenced in the Kansas court and is entitled to his release. This is an appeal from an order dismissing the petition without a hearing. The record is not clear whether petitioner has exhausted his state remedies. In view of this uncertainty, the trial court disposed of the case on its merits, and we shall do likewise.

On November 27, 1963, with his retained counsel, Roberts appeared in the…