Artis X. Johnson v. United States District Court for the District of Nebraska

The petitioner is a Nebraska state prisoner presently serving an eight to ten-year sentence upon his conviction for manslaughter. In this action for mandamus relief, the petitioner seeks to compel the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska to consider the merits of his motion for habeas corpus previously dismissed by the court for want of exhaustion.

The records in this case show that the Nebraska authorities had initially charged the petitioner with second degree murder, and that the petitioner proceeded to trial on this charge. However, during jury selection procedures, a…