Alvaro L. Hernandez, Jr. v. W.J. Estelle, Jr., Director, Texas Department of Corrections

This habeas appeal follows the determination by the district court, based on a magistrate’s report, that the guilty plea entered by the petitioner to a charge of attempted escape from the Pecos County Jail in Fort Stockton, Texas, 1 and theft of the jailer’s automobile was not involuntarily induced.

The petitioner claimed that the guilty plea entered was involuntarily induced through “physical violence, threats, coercion, subterfuge, and restricted food rations.” After unsuccessfully pursuing his habeas claim in state court, the petitioner filed his petition in federal court, where it was…