Roy Wilson v. A. E. Slayton, Jr., Superintendent, Virginia State Penitentiary

Wilson, a Virginia prisoner, attacks the constitutionality of his Virginia recidivist conviction under Va.Code § 53-296. More specifically he argues that the Virginia Recidivist Statute violates such constitutional principles as double jeopardy, due process and equal protection of the law.

Recidivist statutes are a perfectly legitimate subject of legislative regulation, Spencer v. Texas, 385 U.S. 554, 87 S.Ct. 648, 17 L.Ed.2d 606 (1967), whose constitutionality is no longer open to challenge. Oyler v. Boles, 368 U.S. 448, 82 S.Ct. 501, 7 L.Ed.2d 446 (1961).

The Supreme Court has held in…