David Franklin Clay v. James A. Lynaugh, Director, Texas Department of Corrections

David Franklin Clay, a prisoner in the custody of the Texas Department of Corrections, sought a writ of habeas corpus in federal court on the ground that his conviction for aggravated rape violated the due process clause of the United States Constitution. In December, 1977, a Texas jury convicted Clay of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape. Clay charged that, because the two offenses arose out of a single criminal transaction, the second conviction, for aggravated rape, was illegal under the Texas “carving doctrine,” a judicially developed rule that protected some criminal defendants…