Theodore Way v. R. J. Gaffney, Warden, Kansas State Penitentiary, Lansing, Kansas

This state prisoner habeas case is once again before us. In his petition, filed in April, 1969, Way alleged that his appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court from a 1967 conviction and sentence had not been docketed, although eighteen (18) months had passed since the notice of appeal. In Way v. Crouse, 421 F.2d 145 (10th Cir. 1970), we held that the district court should not have dismissed the petition without inquiring into the facts and circumstances underlying the alleged delay, although we noted that the cause might well be mooted by the decision of the state supreme court, rendered December 6,…