Williams v. Missouri Board of Probation

HENLEY, Circuit Judge.

James E. Williams and Junior Theobald1 appeal the decision of the district court holding that the Missouri parole statute, Mo.Rev.Stat. § 549.261, does not create a protected liberty interest in release on parole. We reverse the judgment and remand the ease to the district court.

Appellants brought this civil rights action, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, in March, 1974 while they were incarcerated in the Missouri State Penitentiary at Jefferson City. A stipulation of facts and legal issues into which the parties entered in July, 1976 focused the controversy on whether the due process…