Madeley v. Kern, 73-1883. Summary Calendar.
Decision Date | 28 January 1974 |
Docket Number | No. 73-1883. Summary Calendar.,73-1883. Summary Calendar. |
Parties | Reggie Clayton MADELEY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. C. V. KERN, Sheriff of Harris County, and the State of Texas, Respondents-Appellees. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Reggie C. Madeley, pro se.
Joe Moss, Asst. Dist. Atty., Houston, Tex., for C. V. Kern.
Lange Baker, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., for state of Tex.
Before THORNBERRY, GOLDBERG and RONEY, Circuit Judges.
Following a jury trial in state court, Reggie Clayton Madeley was convicted of burglary with intent to commit theft. Because of three prior felony convictions, he was sentenced to life imprisonment under an enhancement count, Vernon's Tex.Penal Code Ann. art. 63 (1953). On direct appeal the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction, Madeley v. State, 488 S.W.2d 416 (1972).
Madeley then filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1970), in which he raised five points: (1) that his indicting and convicting juries were constituted in violation of the United States Constitution because the Texas requirement that grand and petit jurors swear an oath "so help me God" excludes qualified citizens who cannot conscientiously take such an oath;1 (2) that the method of his sentencing denied him credit for jail time served prior to sentencing; (3) that the State failed to prove the enhancement counts alleged in the indictment; (4) that the trial court improperly admitted evidence for enhancement purposes of a prior conviction that was invalid because Madeley had not been represented by counsel; and (5) that the trial court improperly admitted evidence seized during an illegal search.
The district court held that Madeley had not adequately exhausted available state remedies on his first two contentions, and refused to consider the merits. As to the remaining contentions, the court concluded that Madeley was not entitled to relief on the merits. On this appeal Madeley has withdrawn his second contention, but challenges the district court's holdings on the other four.
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