Ex Parte Etheridge

1925 OK CR 116, 233 P. 776, 29 Okla. Crim. 323, 1925 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 106

• Court: Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
• Decided: March 7, 1925
• Docket: No. A-5228.
• Status: Published

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Petitioner, E. W. Etheridge, on June 26, 1924, filed in this court a petition alleging that he is unlawfully held in custody and imprisoned in the county jajl of Pittsburg county by Will Anderson, sheriff. A demurrer to the petition was filed, and on July 21, 1924, by leave of court, a substituted petition was filed.

It is averred that petitioner was committed by R. A. Thompson, justice of the peace, McAlester township, Pitts-burg county, after a preliminary examination held June 13,1924, to answer to the district court of that county upon a charge based on section 1867, Conm Stats. 1921, defining the abominable and detestable crime against nature and alleged to have been committed per os upon one Howard G. Johnson, Jr.; that on July 12, 1924, petitioner filed in the district court of Pittsburg county a petition, asking' that a writ of mandamus issue to said R. A. Thompson, justice of the peace as aforesaid, requiring him to grant a change of venue as prayed for in petitioner’s affidavit and motion for a change of venue, and the same was denied, to which ruling petitioner reserved an exception; that for the reasons stated in said petition for writ of mandamus his restraint is illegal and unauthorized. To the substituted petition, the Attorney General filed a demurrer, on the ground that the petition did not state facts sufficient to entitle petitioner to his release.

On authority of Ex parte De Ford, 14 Okla. Cr. 133, 168 P. 58, the demurrer was sustained, and writ denied.