Robert Bryan Pate v. Lawrence E. Wilson, Warden of the California State Prison at San Quentin

This is an appeal from the denial of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. Appellant is a state prisoner serving a life sentence imposed by the First Judicial District of Nevada (Douglas County) for conviction of the crime of kidnapping in the first degree, i. e., for the purpose of robbery. The petition was denied because of appellant’s failure to exhaust his state remedies. Jurisdiction below rested on 28 U.S.C. § 2241 ; here, on 28 U.S.C. § 2253 .

The appellant is held in California prison by California authorities acting as agents for Nevada under terms (Art. IY(a)) of the “Western Interstate Corrections Compact.” By its express terms, inmates in California penal institutions held pursuant to the Compact’s terms are “at all times * * * subject to the jurisdiction of the sending state,” and may be transferred to an institution of the sending state “at any time” and “for any [lawful] purpose.” (Art. IV(e)). Nor is the inmate so- confined “deprived” of any legal rights which said inmate would have had if confined in an appropriate institution of the sending state.

The clear and unambiguous language of the…