Robert James Franks v. W. J. Estelle, Jr., Director

Fifth Circuit

Robert James Franks v. W. J. Estelle, Jr., Director

543 F.2d 567, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 5959

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

DecidedDecember 6, 1976

Docket75-4315

StatusPublished

Cited by2 cases

This text of 543 F.2d 567 (Robert James Franks v. W. J. Estelle, Jr., Director) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Robert James Franks v. W. J. Estelle, Jr., Director, 543 F.2d 567, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 5959 (5th Cir. 1976).

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Opinion

PER CURIAM:

This appeal is by a state prisoner whose petition for habeas corpus was denied. When petitioner was sentenced in the Texas State Court Art. 42.03, Tex.Code Crim.Proe. provided that the award of presentence credit was left to the discretion of the trial judge. Later the Texas legislature amended Art. 42.03, effective on August 27, 1973, a few months after petitioner was sentenced, to require the trial court to award jail credit for time spent in custody pending conviction and sentence. In conjunction with the amendments to Art. 42.03, the Texas Department of Corrections instituted a policy permitting state prisoners in federal custody to earn good time toward their state sentences. Petitioner was in federal custody.

The sole issue is whether the state’s refusal to give retroactive effect to amended Art. 42.03 and to the new policy of the Texas Department of Corrections denies him equal protection of the laws under the Constitution of the United States.

This case is controlled by our decision in Jackson v. State of Alabama, 530 F.2d 1231 (CA5, 1976), in which we held that equal protection was not violated by nonretroactive application of a similar good time statute enacted by the Alabama legislature.

AFFIRMED.

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PER CURIAM:

This appeal is by a state prisoner whose petition for habeas corpus was denied. When petitioner was sentenced in the Texas State Court Art. 42.03, Tex.Code Crim.Proe. provided that the award of presentence credit was left to the discretion of the trial judge. Later the Texas legislature amended Art. 42.03, effective on August 27, 1973, a few months after petitioner was sentenced, to require the trial court to award jail credit for time spent in custody pending conviction and sentence. In conjunction with the amendments to Art. 42.03, the Texas Department of Corrections instituted a policy permitting state prisoners in federal custody to earn good time toward their state sentences. Petitioner was in federal custody.

The sole issue is whether the state’s refusal to give retroactive effect to amended Art. 42.03 and to the new policy of the Texas Department of Corrections denies him equal protection of the laws under the Constitution of the United States.

This case is controlled by our decision in Jackson v. State of Alabama, 530 F.2d 1231 (CA5, 1976), in which we held that equal protection was not violated by nonretroactive application of a similar good time statute enacted by the Alabama legislature.

AFFIRMED.

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543 F.2d 567, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 5959, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robert-james-franks-v-w-j-estelle-jr-director-ca5-1976.

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