Ex Parte Wallace

1945 OK CR 92, 162 P.2d 205, 81 Okla. Crim. 176, 1945 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 263
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 19, 1945
DocketNo. A-10656.
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 1945 OK CR 92 (Ex Parte Wallace) 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 Wallace, 1945 OK CR 92, 162 P.2d 205, 81 Okla. Crim. 176, 1945 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 263 (Okla. Ct. App. 1945).

Opinion

JONES, J.

This is an original proceeding in habeas corpus filed by the petitioner, George Wallace, to secure his release from confinement in the State Penitentiary.

The verified petition alleges that on February 3,1942, there was filed in the justice of the peace court in the city of Walters, in Cotton county, Okla., a complaint charging the petitioner with the crime of rape upon one Dixie Lee Hovah, age six years; that thereafter, a warrant was issued and defendant was incarcerated in the county jail of Cotton county; that defendant waived a preliminary examination and his case was certified to *178 tlie district court of Cotton county. Later, an informa-, tion was filed against the defendant in the district court of Cotton county, charging the crime of rape in the first degree, substantially as alleged in the criminal complaint.' That on May 8, 1942, the defendant appeared with his counsel before the district court of Cotton county, entered his plea of guilty to said charge contained in the information, and was by the court sentenced to serve a term of 25 years’ imprisonment in the State Penitentiary.

That on the date the petitioner was sentenced by the district court of Cotton county, a stipulation signed by counsel for defendant and the county attorney of Cotton county was filed, which stipulation recited that the alleged act constituting the crime of rape for which said defendant was charged was committed on the southwest quarter of section eight (8), township two (2) south, range nine (9) west, Cotton county, Oklahoma, and that said quarter section of land is, and was,' restricted Indian land, the title to which is held in trust by the United States of America for a member of the Comanche Tribe of Indians.

The petition further alleges that the restraint and imprisonment under the judgment and sentence aforesaid is illegal for the following reason:

That the petitioner is a full-blood, enrolled, and restricted Comanche Indian, and that the said Dixie Lee Hovah is also an enrolled and restricted Comanche Indian, and that the restrictions have never been removed from either the petitioner or the said Dixie Lee Hovah, and, for that reason, since the acts which are alleged to have constituted the commission of the crime of rape were performed on restricted Indian land, that the district court of Cotton county was without jurisdiction of the *179 offense charged, that the judgment and sentence was void, as sole and exclusive jurisdiction of said offense was vested-in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Attached to the petition are copies of the complaint, the minutes of the justice of the peace, before whom the defendant was brought for a preliminary examination, a copy of the information, the stipulation of counsel, and the judgment and sentence pronounced against defendant upon his plea of guilty.

It is interesting to note at this juncture that the petition for writ of habeas corpus filed in the instant case was not filed until after the lapse of three years, so that any further action against the petitioner, in case he secured his release from confinement in the State Penitentiary in the instant action, would be barred in either the state or the federal courts by reason of the three years period of limitation on commencement of a criminal action of this nature. 22 O. S. 1941 § 152.

A rule to show cause was issued and the warden of the State Penitentiary has filed a response to the petition, in which response he admits that he is holding the petitioner in custody in said penitentiary pursuant to the judgment and sentence of the district court of Cotton county rendered on May 8, 1942, by which judgment and sentence the said George Wallace was committed to the State Penitentiary to serve a term of 25 years.

The respondent further alleges that the judgment and sentence was regularly and duly pronounced upon defendant’s plea of guilty in the presence and with the advice .of counsel. That defendant George Wallace had been duly and properly charged by information for the crime of rape committed in said Cotton county. That there *180 was nothing in said information nor in the stipulation filed by counsel to show that either George Wallace or Dixie Lee Hovah were Indians and that on the face of the record the court had jurisdiction of the offense and of the person of the defendant and jurisdiction to pronounce said sentence and the only way the matter now argued by counsel could be presented was by an objection to the jurisdiction of the trial court and by appeal to this court in case of an adverse ruling. That no objection to the jurisdiction of the trial court was ever interposed by defendant or his counsel and the stipulation filed by counsel was not even called to the attention of the trial court, although there was nothing in said stipulation to show that either the petitioner or the complainant was an Indian.

Upon a hearing had before this court, it was stipulated by counsel that, subject to the objection of the Attorney General as to the competency and relevancy of said evidence, the petitioner and the victim of the crime were restricted Comanche Indians.

The minutes of the justice of the peace, before whom the complaint was filed, recite:

“Whereupon, this the 3d day of February, 1942, C. C. Campbell filed herein complaint, charging the above named defendant, George Wallace, with the crime of rape, and a warrant thereafter was issued and placed in the hands of the sheriff of Cotton county, Oklahoma.
“Thereafter, on the 4th day of February, 1942, an amended complaint was filed in the cause, but the arraignment was delayed until the defendant would have time to make arrangements with some attorney to represent him, and thereafter, on February 9, 1942, the district attorney’s office of Oklahoma City demanded that the defendant be turned over to the Federal government for *181 prosecution and his request was complied with. Thereafter, on March 12th, the Federal Attorney, Charles Becker, notified the County Attorney of Cotton County, that the Federal government had made a thorough investigation of the alleged crime and desired to return the defendant back to the State and to Cotton County for prosecution by reason of the want of Federal jurisdiction. Thereafter, on the 12th day of March, 1942, the defendant was returned to the County jail of Cotton County, and thereafter, on March 17th, 1942, defendant appeared before the undersigned magistrate in person and with his attorney and legal advisor, Wm. T. Powell, and after the complaint was read to the defendant and after he was fully advised of the nature of the indictment lodged against him, he entered a plea of not guilty, waived preliminary hearing and asked that his case be certified up to the District Court of Cotton County.”

It is contended by petitioner that exclusive jurisdiction of the crime of rape committed by an Indian on another Indian or other person on an Indian Beservation is exclusively vested in the courts of the United States, citing 18 U.S.C.A. § 548, which provides:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

DEO v. PARISH
2023 OK CR 20 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 2023)
Ellis v. State
1963 OK CR 88 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1963)
Application of Ervin
1961 OK CR 13 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1961)
In RE WESLEY v. Schneckloth
346 P.2d 658 (Washington Supreme Court, 1959)
Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus of Wesley v. Schneckloth
346 P.2d 658 (Washington Supreme Court, 1959)
In Re Carmen
313 P.2d 817 (California Supreme Court, 1957)
In re the Habeas Corpus of Morgan
1955 OK CR 78 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1955)
In Re the Habeas Corpus of York
1955 OK CR 55 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1955)
Application of Poston
1955 OK CR 39 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1955)
Tooisgah v. United States
186 F.2d 93 (Tenth Circuit, 1950)
Ex Parte Scharnhaus
1948 OK CR 105 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1948)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1945 OK CR 92, 162 P.2d 205, 81 Okla. Crim. 176, 1945 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-wallace-oklacrimapp-1945.