Tommy Lyons v. James F. Howard, Warden, Kentucky State Reformatory

Tommy Lyons, petitioner-appellant, appeals from an order of the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, at Louisville, denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The sole question raised by the appellant in his brief is that his plea of guilty was involuntarily made because it was induced by the unconstitutional Kentucky statutory scheme which required him to plead guilty in order to avoid the risk of the death penalty in a jury trial. He cites United States v. Jackson, 390 U.S. 570, 88 S.Ct. 1209, 20 L.Ed.2d 138 in support of his claim.

The appellant was…