Ex Parte Williams

1938 OK CR 6, 75 P.2d 904, 63 Okla. Crim. 395, 1938 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 121
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 21, 1938
DocketNo. A-9433.
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 1938 OK CR 6 (Ex Parte Williams) 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 Williams, 1938 OK CR 6, 75 P.2d 904, 63 Okla. Crim. 395, 1938 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 121 (Okla. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

DOYLE, J.

This is an application for discharge from imprisonment in the state penitentiary by writ of habeas corpus on the part of Roy Williams.

It appears that petitioner is held under a commitment issued in execution of sentence upon a judgment of the district court of Muskogee county, rendered January 5, 1927, in accordance with the verdict of the jury finding petitioner guilty of the crime of robbery with firearms, wherein he was sentenced to serve a term of 25 years in the state penitentiary. He appealed. No briefs were filed and no appearance for oral argument made, the case was submitted on the record, and the judgment affirmed. Williams v. State, 41 Okla, Cr. 419, 273 Pac. 1009. The minimum expiration of the sentence based upon good conduct and works credit is November 19, 1938, as shown on the face of his prison record, showing* also, that petitioner had a clear record, without any penalties for violations of penitentiary rules. That on a prior conviction for the same offense, petitioner appealed, and while the appeal was pending he served one year, four months, and twenty-eight days in the penitentiary before the judgment was reversed and case remanded for a new trial. Williams v. State, 35 Okla. Cr. 171, 249 Pac. 433.

That having* been once convicted -for the same offense and having suffered punishment under the former conviction, he is entitled to credit for the time so served on *398 the first conviction. Wherefore he has more than served out the entire term of punishment, and should have been discharged.

That for the reasons stated he is unlawfully deprived of his liberty, as his detention is without due process of law, and is a denial of the equal protection of the laws.

The argument is made on behalf of petitioner that since only defendants who are unable to give appeal bonds are tfie ones who have to serve the sentence in the penitentiary pending appeal, while those giving the statutory bond retain their freedom pending appeal, therefore, by the ruling of the Attorney General, petitioner-is denied justice according to due process of law; citing Jackson v. Com., 187 Ky. 760, 220 S.W. 1045, 9 A. L. R. 955, quoting annotation p. 958, as follows:

“It is generally conceded that where an original sentence is merely erroneous, credit may be had for the time served thereunder. But in some of the cases a distinction has been made between sentences which are merely erroneous and those which are regarded as absolutely null and void, and in the latter instance credit for the time served thereunder is refused — a result seemingly more consistent with dry logic than natural justice. The distinction has not been made in all of the cases. For instance, in the reported case (Jackson v. Com. [187 Ky. 760, 220 S. W. 1045, 9 A.L.R.] 955), the court without reference to1 the question whether or not the original judgment was void or merely erroneous, held that in resentencing, the defendants they should be allowed credit for the time served under the erroneous sentence. It will be remembered that the theory of. the court was that it would be both an. in justice and a ‘flagrant invasion of their legal rights’ to require them to serve their terms or any part thereof twice.”

*399 In some jurisdictions statutes have been enacted which in some instances, at least, have a bearing upon the question under consideration. For instance, the Iowa statute, Code 1935, § 14018, provides that if a defendant, imprisoned during the pendency of an appeal, is granted a new trial and is again convicted, the period of his former imprisonment shall be deducted from the period of imprisonment to be fixed on the last verdict of conviction.

See State ex rel. Bone v. Barr, Warden, 133 Iowa, 132, 110 N.W. 280, holding that upon resentence the defendant is entitled to> have the “good time” earned under his former sentence considered in determining the amount of further punishment that should be imposed.

In the case of In re Bojar, 7 Wash. 355, 35 Pac. 71, it is held that a defendant is entitled to the benefit of the statute when the appeal is dismissed for want of prosecution.

Counsel for the state in their brief say:

“The effect of the granting of a new trial has been declared by statute in this state.
“Section 3119 O.S. 1931, [22 Okla. St. Ann. § 951] provides in part: ‘A new trial is a re-examination of the issue in the same court, before another jury, after a verdict has been given. The granting of a new trial places the parties in the same position as if no trial had been had. * * * The former verdict cannot be used or referred to either in evidence or in argument, or be pleaded in bar of any conviction ivhich might have been had under the indictment or information,’ ”—citing Watson v. State, 26 Okla. Cr. 377, 224 Pac. 368; Duncan v. State, 41 Okla. Cr. 89, 270 Pac. 335; Bayne v. State, 48 Okla. Cr. 195, 290 Pac. 354.

*400 The response to the rule to show cause why the writ should not issue concludes:

“Respondent denies that petitioner is entitled to credit for the time he served while said case was on appeal, and that petitioner will not have served his present sentence on a minimum basis until November 19, 1938.”

The important question involved in the case on the uncontroverted facts is whether or not petitioner is entitled, under the law, to credit with the time he had served in the penitentiary before the reversal of the former judgment; in other words, to have the period of his former imprisonment for the same offense deducted from the term of imprisonment fixed on the last verdict of conviction?

In the early case of Ex parte Tyler, 2 Okla, Cr. 455, 102 Pac. 716, 718, a similar question was before this court. In the opinion, after quoting the statute, we said:

“Here are two distinct provisions. The first provides that: ‘If an appeal is taken and the bond so fixed is given by the defendant, conditioned, etc., the execution of the judgment shall be stayed until affirmed or reversed, or modified by the Supreme Court.’ The second provides that: ‘If no bond be given the appeal shall stay the execution of judgment, but the defendant shall be confined in the county jail, until the case is finally disposed of.’ The first provides for a supersedeas bond when an appeal is taken. The latter dispenses with a bond, but stays the execution when the appeal is taken. The greater includes the less as in many other instances, but the less does not necessarily extinguish the greater. The section amended (5612, Wilson’s Rev. & Ann. St. 1903 [22 Okla. St. Ann. §§ 1057-1062]) originally provided: ‘If no bond be given the appeal shall not stay the execution of the judgment’ ; as amended it omits the word ‘not,’ and adds: ‘But the defendant shall be confined in the county jail until the case is finally disposed of.’ This amendment was man *401 ifestly designed to prevent the imprisonment in the penitentiary of a defendant pending his appeal from a judgment of conviction. * * *
“We are not disposed to' defeat the object of the statute by so construing it as to make- it a nullity.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1938 OK CR 6, 75 P.2d 904, 63 Okla. Crim. 395, 1938 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 121, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-williams-oklacrimapp-1938.