Lenny Paul Wells v. Thomas G. Pinnock, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Department of Social and Health Services

Wells is a Washington state prisoner, convicted of the offense of possessing heroin in violation of Wash.Rev. Code § 69.33.410. For his offense, he was sentenced to a maximum term of confinement of twenty years, a sentence allowable under the applicable statute as it existed at the time of his conviction. Wells appealed his conviction to the Washington appellate courts, and pending the appeal, Washington’s legislature enacted the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, Wash.Rev.Code § 69.50.-101-.608. This Act repealed the statute under which Wells had been convicted and sentenced. The new statute reduced the maximum allowable punishment for the offense, such as committed by Wells, to a period of ten years, and further provided

Wash.Rev. Code § 69.50.601(a). The Washington Supreme Court, in an unpublished Order Denying [Wells’] Application For Writ of Habeas Corpus, held that “a criminal prosecution ends with the rendition of judgment and sentence, and therefore petitioner’s case does not fall within the Uniform Controlled Substances Act.” Wells v. Pinnock, No. 42,165 (Wash. Jan. 28, 1972).

Having exhausted his state remedies, Wells filed a petition for habeas corpus in the District…