Edward D. Kennedy v. Maurice H. Sigler, Warden of the Nebraska Penal & Correctional Complex

BLACKMUN, Circuit Judge.

This in forma pauperis corpus petition by Edward D. Kennedy, a Nebraska state prisoner, primarily raises an issue of the propriety of utilizing, upon the facts and in the application of Nebraska’s habitual criminal statute, Neb.R.R.S.1943 § 29-2221, 1 a prior conviction of the petitioner when he was a juvenile. An issue of this kind has been characterized as a “serious” one. Chewning v. Cunningham, 368 U.S. 443, 447, 82 S.Ct. 498, 7 L.Ed.2d 442 (1962). The statute’s constitutionality is not challenged here. It has been upheld. State v. Huffman, 181 Neb. 356, 148 N.W.2d…