James Morse v. State of Texas

TATE, Circuit Judge:

Having exhausted state remedies, the petitioner Morse, a Texas state prisoner, applies for habeas relief. 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He challenges the state court’s imposition of a mandatory life imprisonment sentence for a 1974 conviction of aggravated robbery as enhanced by two prior felony convictions. He contends that the enhancement of his sentence is unconstitutional because a 1963 guilty plea conviction that was used to enhance the 1974 sentence had been the result of Morse’s fear that a subsequently voided (as uncounselled) 1959 guilty-plea conviction would otherwise have…