MEMORANDUM DECISION
Lee Shear, a West Virginia prisoner, appeals from an order of the District Court (Maxwell, J.) denying his petition for habeas corpus. The District Court granted Shear a certificate of probable cause to appeal.
In 1964 Shear pleaded guilty to two felony charges and was sentenced to concurrent ten-year terms. Later that year the District Court, in a habeas corpus proceeding, found these convictions invalid and ordered Shear released or retried. The state chose to reprosecute Shear and in separate trials he was re-convicted of both charges by juries. This time, however, his punishment was fixed by the court at two consecutive fifteen-year sentences. In his petition in the District Court, Shear complained that this increased sentence after retrial was unconstitutional.
The District Court rejected Shear’s argument.1 However, since the date of the District Court’s opinion, this Court has held it to be a violation of constitutional guarantees to increase punishment on a retrial. Patton v. State of North Carolina, 381 F.2d 636 (4th Cir.), rehearing en banc denied, Sept. 5, 1967. We feel it appropriate, therefore, to remand the present case to the District Court for its consideration in the light of Patton.2
The judgment of the District Court is reversed and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.