Ex Parte Barber

69 S. Ct. 59, 1948 OK CR 72, 196 P.2d 695, 87 Okla. Crim. 201, 1948 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 222
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 21, 1948
DocketNo. A-11064.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 69 S. Ct. 59 (Ex Parte Barber) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ex Parte Barber, 69 S. Ct. 59, 1948 OK CR 72, 196 P.2d 695, 87 Okla. Crim. 201, 1948 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 222 (Okla. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

BRETT, J.

This is an original proceeding in ha-beas corpus by petitioner, John Curtis Barber, to secure his release from the penitentiary at McAlester, Okla. The petition alleges, in substance, as follows, to wit, that he was arrested on September 17, 1907, charged with the murder of Marion Farrell, that said offense was originally committed in what later became Pottawatomie county, but which at the time of the commission of said offense was Oklahoma Territory; that said Territory became merged - with Indian Territory into what became the State of Oklahoma on November 16, 1907; that he was indicted by the district court of Pottawatomie coun *203 ty, Okla., on December 23, 1907. Thereafter, on January 20, 1908, he was tried and convicted, and thereupon he was sentenced on January 30, 1908. At said time the State of Oklahoma not having a penitentiary, he complains he was committed to the Kansas State Penitentiary February 26, 1908, and thereafter transferred to Mc-Alester, Okla., the site of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

It is well to note that this petition was filed by John Curtis Barber by himself. This court has repeatedly held that we “will view with liberality a petition for habeas corpus filed, without the aid of counsel, by an inmate in the penitentiary, and will give every reasonable inference that it can to such petition to see whether same is sufficent, upon its fact, to justify a hearing thereon”. Ex parte Walker, 84 Okla. Cr. 190, 180 P. 2d 670, 671; Ex parte Tollison, 73 Okla. Cr. 38, 117 P. 2d 549. However, this court has further held that the writ of habeas corpus is limited to cases in which the judgment and sentence of the court attacked are clearly void. Ex parte Tollison, supra. Moreover, it has repeatedly been held that this court, on habeas corpus, “will not look beyond the judgment and sentence of any court of competent jurisdiction as to mere irregularities of procedure”. Ex parte Tollison, supra; Ex parte Dunn, 33 Okla. Cr. 190, 242 P. 574; Ex parte Grant, 32 Okla. Cr. 217, 240 P. 759; Ex parte Hollingshead, 24 Okla. Cr. 131, 216 P. 486. Furthermore this court has repeatedly held “the remedy of habeas corpus is available wherever it is found that the court in which the petitioner was tried had no jurisdiction to try him, or that in its proceedings his constitutional rights were denied”. Ex parte Barnett, 67 Okla. Cr. 300, 94 P. 2d 18, 19; Ex parte Massengale, 67 Okla. Cr. 181, 93 P. 2d 41. We *204 have also held that “in habeas corpus proceeding to obtain release of prisoner who is in custody under sentence, inquiry of Criminal Court of Appeals is limited to determination of whether court had jurisdiction of prisoner’s person and of crime charged, and if such court had jurisdiction to convict and sentence, the writ cannot issue to correct irregularities in the proceeding”. Ex parte Cannes, 77 Okla. Cr. 71, 138 P. 2d 561, certiorari denied, Cannes v. State, of Oklahoma, 320 U. S. 764, 64 S. Ct. 44, 88 L. Ed. 456; Ex parte Linam, 71 Okla. Cr. 155, 109 P. 2d 838; Ex parte Newman, 67 Okla. Cr. 401, 94 P. 2d 556; In re Swaim, 66 Okla. Cr. 30, 89 P. 2d 363.

The petitioner advances four contentions based upon the facts hereinbefore set forth. Petitioner contends that the state was without jurisdiction to try him for said offense, and without authority of law to cause him to be confined in the State Penitentiary of Kansas and to later return him to the State Penitentiary at McAlester. The first contention is based upon the proposition that under the foregoing facts, the indictment not having been returned before Oklahoma became a state, the federal court had jurisdiction to try the petitioner, and that should the writ of habeas corpus be granted he should be returned to the federal authorities for trial or be granted his outright release. This contention is wholly without merit as revealed by the cases of Ex parte Bailey, 1 Okla. Cr. 115, 94 P. 553, and Ex parte Buchanen, 1 Okla. Cr. 135, 94 P. 943, which involve precisely the identical question here presented, and wherein indictments for crimes were returned covering offenses under the laws then in force in both the Oklahoma and Indian Territory, respectively, after the admission of the state into the union, and no prosecution whatever had been *205 begun prior to such date. In both of these cases the Supreme Court of the state then having jurisdiction of criminal as well as civil matters held that such crimes were cognizable in the district court of the state in the county in which the offense was committed. In the later case of Ex parte Buchanen, supra, Judge Williams, then Chief Justice, said:

“The question is now presented whether or not a prosecution for the offense of manslaughter committed in that part of the state formerly known as the Indian Territory, where no prosecution whatever had been begun — not even a complaint or information having been filed against the accused — prior to the admission of the state into the Union, can be instituted in the state courts and prosecuted to final judgment thereafter. Section 20 of the enabling act (Act June 16, 1906, c. 3335, 34 Stat. 277) as amended March 4, 1907 (34 Stat. 1287, c. 2911) provides as follows:
“That all causes, proceedings, and matters, civil or criminal, pending in the district courts of Oklahoma Territory, or in the United States Courts in the Indian Territory, at the time said territories became a state, not transferred to the United States Circuit or District Courts in the state of Oklahoma, shall be proceeded with, held, and determined by the courts of said state, the successors of said district courts of the territory of Oklahoma, and the United States Courts in the Indian Territory; with the right to prosecute appeals or writs of error to the Supreme or appellate court of said state, and also with the same right to prosecute appeals or writs of error from the final determination in such cases made by the Supreme or appellate court of such state to the Supreme Court of the United States, as is provided by law for appeals and writs of error from the Supreme or final appellate court of a state to the Supreme Court of the United States. All criminal cases pending in the United States Courts in the Indian Territory, not transferred to the United States Circuit or District Courts in the *206 state of Oklahoma, shall be prosecuted to a final determination in the state courts of Oklahoma under the laws now in force in that territory.’
“In the decision of this court in the cases of Higgins v. Brown (decided at this term of court) [1 Okla. Cr. 33], 94 P. 703, wherein it was held said section, having been concurred in on the part of the state by virtue of provisions contained in sections 27 and 28 of the Schedule to the Constitution, vested jurisdiction in the proper state courts of all criminal cases, not of a federal character, pending at the time of the admission of the state into the union in the territorial courts of Oklahoma and in the United States Courts in the Indian Territory, and in that same case it was held that if the crime of murder was committed in what was formerly the Indian Territory, not within a fort or arsenal or in such place in said territory over which jurisdiction would have been solely and exclusively within the jurisdiction of the United States, had it at that time been a state, such offense was cognizable in the state courts.

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Bluebook (online)
69 S. Ct. 59, 1948 OK CR 72, 196 P.2d 695, 87 Okla. Crim. 201, 1948 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-barber-oklacrimapp-1948.