Ex Parte Clark

198 S.W. 954, 82 Tex. Crim. 192, 1917 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 313
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 21, 1917
DocketNos. 4629 and 4717.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 198 S.W. 954 (Ex Parte Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ex Parte Clark, 198 S.W. 954, 82 Tex. Crim. 192, 1917 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 313 (Tex. 1917).

Opinion

PRENDERGAST, Judge.

During the vacation of this conrt last summer there was presented to the Presiding Jndge an application by E. S. Samples, an attorney, wherein be complained of Jndge Bonner, the judge of the Thirtieth Judicial District of Texas, and alleged that relator, said Clark, was indicted at the June term of said conrt for an attempt to commit burglary, was tried on June 29th, found guilty and his punishment assessed at two years in the penitentiary; that before that trial said Samples, a licensed attorney, was employed and paid to represent said Clark on his trial; that when the case was called for trial the jndge refused to allow him to represent said Clark, and that said attorney moved the conrt to continue the case until cause could he shown why he wag not allowed to represent him; which motion was filed but which was ignored by said jndge, and he was forced to trial without an attorney of his choice; that on the same day said Clark was convicted his said attorney filed a motion for a new trial, and on July 3rd, said Clark was called into conrt and arraigned to he .sentenced in accordance with the verdict, and when asked by the jndge *193 if he had anything to say why sentence should not be passed upon him that he informed the court that he had employed said Samples as his attorney and requested said attorney to speak for him at that time, and that his attorney offered the motion that had been filed and asked the court to hear it, which the court refused to do; and in harsh language commanded said attorney to be seated and proceeded to pass sentence upon said Clark, and after sentence had been passed said attorney asked permission of the court to give notice of appeal, which he refused to entertain and remanded said Clark to the custody of the sheriff to be delivered to the agent of the State penitentiary; and that immediately thereafter said attorney filed with the clerk his notice • of appeal in writing.

That on July 5th he applied to Judge Scurry, the judge of the Seventy-eighth Judicial District, for a writ of habeas corpus, which was granted and heard and an order made remanding him back to the custody of the sheriff, holding that he did not have jurisdiction to change the orders of the Thirtieth District Court, but that such power would be to the Court of Criminal Appeals at Austin; that he is being illegally carried to the penitentiary for • the reason that said district judge has not only deprived him of a fair and impartial trial but of the right to appeal.

Wherefore he prays that the judge of this court issue a mandamus to Judge Bonner to set aside the order heretofore made in said case, and that he be allowed a fair and impartial trial and that the said judge be ordered to either grant him a trial in accordance with the law, or that he be ordered to instruct the clerk of his court to prepare a full and complete transcript of said case and forward it to the Court of Criminal Appeals and that a writ of habeas corpus issue out of the Court of Criminal Appeals, and that said Clark be not sent to the State penitentiary pending this appeal; and he prays for any and all other relief he is entitled to in law and equity. And he further prays that the judge of this court issue an order restraining the sheriff of Wichita County delivering said Clark to any agent of the penitentiary and that he be held in the county jail in Wichita or be allowed bail pending his appeal; and further, that if it is in its discretion and it is proper, to order a writ of certiorari commanding the clerk of the Thirtieth Judicial District Court to prepare a transcript in said cause and forward it to the Court of Criminal Appeals at Austin. This was signed and sworn to by said attorney, to which he attached a copy of his affidavit filed in the lower court in which he moved that the cause be continued until a hearing could be had showing why he, said attorney, had not been allowed to defend said case. Also a copy of an affidavit by him for a new trial. Also copy of an order to be entered in the minutes of the court giving notice of appeal, and a copy of his application to Judge Scurry for a writ of habeas corpus, and the judge’s order granting the writ.

On July 11th, Presiding Judge Davidson had entered upon the *194 docket of this court the following: “Clerk ordered to file application and write to district clerk of Wichita commanding him to make certified copies of all proceedings, etc., and forward same to this court by October 3, 1917, and to sheriff to hold applicant and not surrender him to transfer agent of the penitentiary until further ordered by .this court.”

Upon that order the clerk of this court, on that date, issued to the sheriff a writ of habeas corpus, and also issued a notice of the writ to. the clerk of said court of Wichita County requiring him to make a full, true and correct certified copy of all records and papers upon the trial of said Clark and forward them to this court on or before October 3, 1917, for its consideration and further orders.

Thereupon the clerk of the District Court of Wichita County duly made out and sent to the clerk of this court what he certified was a complete transcript of all the proceedings of the Thirtieth District Court of Wichita County in the case of the State against said Will Clark. When that transcript reached the clerk there was nothing to call his attention to the fact .that it was made and sent as a part of said ex parte proceedings required by said order; hence by mistake he filed and docketed it as a separate case, No. 4717. In that transcript is no order of the court showing that said Clark gave notice of appeal; neither is there any statement of facts, nor any bills of exceptions.

The sheriff, on July 20th—which was filed in this court three days, later, made out a complete return sworn to by him in which he answers, the writ of habeas corpus and what he calls writ of injunction issued against him on July 11th in this ex parte proceeding, in which he swears that said Clark was not in his custody .when said writ was-served, but that on July 8, 1917, he duly delivered him to the agent of the penitentiary to be comwed thereto in accordance with the judgment and sentence of said court in said case against Clark, and that in delivering him to said penitentiary agent he was acting under the' sentence, order and judgment of said District Court.

Said ex parte cause was duly reached and submitted on October 3,. 1917.

Neither said Clark, nor said attorney, introduced or offered any testimony whatever 6n the submission of said case. In addition to the-said sheriff’s return the State has procured a certificate of said clerk of Wichita County wherein he certifies that in the said case of the-State against said Clark in that court there is no record in the minutes of the court showing -that he ever gave notice of appeal to the. Court of Criminal Appeals, or excepted to the judgment of the lower court; that there is among the papers of the case an order filed by said Samples containing a notice of appeal, but that this order was-never approved by the court or entered of record in the minutes of the-court. Also an affidavit by Hon. Leslie Humphrey, the district attorney of said District Court, in which he swears that said Clark was represented by counsel, the Hon. Wayne Somerville, a practicing attorney *195

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Bluebook (online)
198 S.W. 954, 82 Tex. Crim. 192, 1917 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-clark-texcrimapp-1917.