In Re the Habeas Corpus of Langley

1958 OK CR 54, 325 P.2d 1094, 1958 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 170
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 21, 1958
DocketA-12586
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 1958 OK CR 54 (In Re the Habeas Corpus of Langley) 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
In Re the Habeas Corpus of Langley, 1958 OK CR 54, 325 P.2d 1094, 1958 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 170 (Okla. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinions

POWELL, Judge.

This is an original habeas corpus proceeding in which petitioner, who is now being detained by the respondent, Bob Turner, Sheriff of Oklahoma County, pursuant to extradition proceedings initiated by the State of California, seeks his release from custody of that official.

With the exception of one important matter to be pointed out, we conclude from an examination of the petition, response and transcript of evidence heard by the district court of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma and admitted herein, which court previous[1097]*1097ly denied a writ of habeas corpus, that there is no dispute as to the basic facts involved in petitioner’s detention.

On November IS, 1947 petitioner was convicted in the superior court of the State of California for the crime of armed robbery, and was sentenced to serve an indeterminate sentence of five years to life in the San Quentin California State Penitentiary. On June 6, 1952 petitioner was paroled from such institution by the Adult Authority Department of Corrections of the State of California. The parole agreement signed by William A. Langley on June 5, 1952 contained some fifteen provisions concerning the parolee’s conduct while on parole, the violation of any of which would make the parole subject to revocation. The parolee agreed: "I hereby waive extradition to the State of Califorma from any State in the Union and from any territory or country outside the continental United States, and also agree that I will not contest any effort to return me to the United States or to the State of California. I have read, or had read to me, the foregoing conditions of my ptio'ole, and I fully understand them and I agree to abide by and strictly follow them, and I fully understand the penalties involved should I in any manner violate the foregoing conditions (Emphasis supplied.)

Petitioner admits that he violated the parole agreement in a number of respects, one of which was on December 11, 1952 leaving California without permission of the proper authorities, and going to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but returning to California on December 24, 1952; that on December 31, 1952 petitioner was apprehended and arrested and taken into custody by the F.B.I. authorities on an illegal flight warrant in California and incarcerated in the San Francisco, California, city jail; that on the same day the Federal complaint was dismissed and the San Francisco Police Department held petitioner for arrival of officers from the State of Oklahoma; that on January 7, 1953 petitioner was turned over by the city jail officials of San Francisco to the Oklahoma officers to be brought back to Oklahoma to face a charge of robbery with firearms in Oklahoma County. The party immediately got on its way to Oklahoma.

On January 13, 1953 the petitioner’s parole was revoked by the Adult Authority, Department of Corrections, State of California ; March 16, 1953 petitioner was tried before a jury in Oklahoma County and sentenced to serve a period of ten years in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary for the crime of robbery with firearms; February 12, 1958 petitioner was released from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, having served his time, but a hold order having préviously been filed by the California authorities, petitioner was delivered into the custody of the sheriff of Pittsburg County to await the arrival of a California officer pursuant to a warrant of arrest issued by the Adult Authority, Department of Corrections of the State of California, and thereafter, petitioner was arrested under warrants of the Governors of the State of California and the State of Oklahoma, and peti- _ tioner, as stated, sought his release by writ of habeas corpus from the district court of Pittsburg County, which was denied. Then followed application to this court, and hearing was had and the petitioner ordered confined to the Oklahoma County jail until the matter could be determined.

On March 19, 1958 the Attorney General filed a supplemental response, attached to which was letter dated March 12, 195® from the Department of Corrections, Division of Adult Paroles, Sacramento, California, along with the original letter dated March 12, 1958 from the Special Agent in charge of the F.B.I. at San Francisco to the Division, of Adult Paroles and also letter dated March 11, 1958 from the Chief of Police of San Francisco to Division of Adult Paroles, all concerning the facts of delivery of petitioner to the Oklahoma officers.

Petitioner as grounds for release asserts in his petition, and argues in his brief: “Your petitioner maintains and contends that the surrendering of this petitioner by the authorities of the State of [1098]*1098California to the Sheriff of Oklahoma Comity, Oklahoma, was a waiver of the State of California’s jurisdiction and right to demand the return of this petitioner to the said State of California, because of the said State of California’s failure to exercise their authority while petitioner was detained and confined within its jurisdiction and with knowledge that this petitioner was a parole violator at the time they voluntarily surrendered this petitioner to the Oklahoma authorities as aforesaid, for the purpose of being transported back to Oklahoma under legal process, to there answer for the crime of robbery with fire arms, as aforesaid.”

The only basis in the record to support the proposition that the petitioner was ever in the custody of the State officials of California or that the Division of Adult Paroles, State of California, ever had knowledge that petitioner had been arrested in California and was being held for Oklahoma officers, is from the following unsupported statements of the petitioner at hearing in the district court of Pittsburg County, at McAlester.

Petitioner was questioned by his counsel, Mr. May, as follows:

“Q. By whom were you arrested? A. F.B.I.
“Q. What charge was you arrested on? A. They told me it was to avoid prosecution, and they turned me over to the city, they put me in jail, city, and the parole officer also.
“Q. Was that flight from Oklahoma to avoid prosecution of an alleged crime that was committed here in Oklahoma City? A. Yes. * * *
“Q. While you were there in the county jail, whose custody were you in at that time, was it the county or city jail? A. It was the city jail, it wasn’t the county jail.
“Q. The city jail of San Francisco, California? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. And you were in their custody, is that correct? A. In the city jail, yes sir.”

Witness further testified that while he was in the city jail officers McGuire and Crewshank came and talked to him; that they were county officers, and wanted to know if he would sign a waiver of extradition, and that he agreed to if they would let his wife visit him and he signed the extradition waiver and was turned over to the Oklahoma officers. He said that he signed the extradition waiver before a judge and members of the court.

Witness further stated that while he was in the city jail his California parole officer by the name of Jenson visited him twice and attempted to question him about his trouble in Oklahoma and told him, “Well, they want you worse than we do and we are going to release you to them”. He further said that he arrived back in Oklahoma about January 10, 1952 and

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In Re the Habeas Corpus of Langley
1958 OK CR 54 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1958)

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Bluebook (online)
1958 OK CR 54, 325 P.2d 1094, 1958 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 170, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-habeas-corpus-of-langley-oklacrimapp-1958.