Johnny Lee Nelson v. A.L. Lockhart, Director, Arkansas Dept. Of Correction

LAY, Chief Judge.

Johnny Lee Nelson pled guilty in Arkansas state court to burglary and theft after taking forty-five dollars from a vending machine. He agreed to be sentenced by a jury pursuant to the state’s habitual criminal offender act. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-1001(2)(c) (Repl.1977). After the state introduced four prior felony convictions, Nelson received a twenty year sentence. The state now concedes that one of the felonies had, in fact, been pardoned. Nelson sought a writ of habeas corpus in the federal district court on the ground that use of the pardoned offense bars a second enhancement…