Hollis Morton v. Harry S. Avery, Commissioner, Department of Correction, State of Tennessee

Appellant is serving a ninety-nine year sentence for first degree murder in the Tennessee State Penitentiary. He filed this action for declaratory judgment under 28 U.S.C. § 2201, attacking the validity of the Tennessee Indeterminate Sentence Law, T.C.A. § 40-2707, as construed by the Supreme Court of Tennessee in Franks v. State, 187 Tenn. 174, 213 S.W.2d 105. In that case the State Supreme Court held that the Indeterminate Sentence Law is inapplicable to the crimes of murder and rape.

It is contended by appellant that the failure to apply the Indeterminate Sentence Law to convictions for…