Richard Lee Ball v. James G. Ricketts, Executive Director, Colorado Department of Correction, Canon City, Colorado

LOGAN, Circuit Judge.

The State of Colorado appeals from the district court’s grant of a writ of habeas corpus setting aside petitioner Richard Lee Ball’s conviction as a habitual criminal. Ball was sentenced to life in prison under Colorado’s habitual criminal statute, which requires such a sentence for persons convicted of a felony who already have three previous felony convictions. See Colo.Rev. Stat. § 16-13-101(2). At Ball’s trial on the habitual criminal charge, the state presented evidence of four prior felonies; the jury found that Ball had committed three of them including a burglary…