Rummel v. Estelle

Texas resident William James Rummel plead guilty to a charge of fraudulent use of a credit card to obtain $80 in goods or services in 1964. The penalty for this offense, classified as a felony under Texas law, was two to ten years imprisonment. Rummel received a sentence of three years in prison which he served without incident. Upon release from confinement, Rummel's run-ins with the law continued. In 1969 he pled guilty to passing a bad check in the amount of $28.26, a crime punishable by two to five years imprisonment, and received a four year prison sentence. Finally, in 1973, Rummel faced prosecution on the charge of obtaining $120.75 through false pretences. This crime qualified as a "felony theft" under Texas law, and was punishable by two to ten years imprisonment. The prosecutors of the case decided to proceed against Rummel using the state's so-called recidivist statute, Article 63 of the Texas State Penal Code. Under Article 63, criminals with three felony convictions of any type are subjected to a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. Rummel decided on a jury trial, but was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on 26 April 1973 by the trial court.