Janaway v. State

1946 OK CR 92, 173 P.2d 222, 83 Okla. Crim. 74, 1946 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 244
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 3, 1946
DocketNo. A-10715.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1946 OK CR 92 (Janaway v. State) 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
Janaway v. State, 1946 OK CR 92, 173 P.2d 222, 83 Okla. Crim. 74, 1946 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 244 (Okla. Ct. App. 1946).

Opinion

*75 BAREFOOT, J.

Defendant, Carl Janaway, was convicted in the district court of Sequoyah county of the crime of assault with intent to kill, and by the court sentenced to serve a term of ten years in the State Penitentiary, and has appealed.

On August 22, 1945, this defendant filed in this court a petition for habeas corpus, seeking his release from the State Penitentiary where he was confined by reason of the judgment and sentence of the district court of Sequoyah county. This petition was filed by petitioner in person. His attention being called to the fact that his case could not be reviewed by this court on habeas corpus, except for want of jurisdiction of the lower court, and the time not having expired for the filing of an appeal of his case, he had the case-made prepared, and his appeal was filed within the time provided by law. The appeal and the petition for habeas corpus were submitted together by consent of the court, and are now here for proper determination by this court.

Defendant has apparently prepared and filed his own brief in both the habeas corpus proceeding and in the appeal. The same issue is involved in both proceedings.

The petition for habeas corpus is quite properly described in the brief of the Attorney General as a “wilderness of verbiage”; and the same may be said of the briefs he has filed. They consist of his words and phrases, improperly used and connected, and having no meaning or bearing upon the issues involved. They contain numerous contemptuous charges against the trial court, the attorneys for the state and his own attorney; and other officers of the court, which would if necessary be stricken from the record, and which, of course, have received no *76 consideration from this court. If such statements had been made by a practicing attorney, proper action would be taken and punishment administered.

Defendant was charged by complaint filed in the office of the justice of the peace in Sequoyah county on March 17, 1937, with the crime of assault with intent to kill Raymond P. Drake, on September 11, 1936. He was not apprehended and arraigned on this charge until August 23, 1944, six and a half years after the crime was committed. In the meantime, it appears from the record that, defendant served time in the Arkansas penitentiary for burglary, grand larceny and kidnapping, and that he had escaped from that penitentiary; and that he also served time in the Federal penitentiary, a part of which was served at Alcatraz. On August 19, 1944, and just prior to his arraignment before the justice of the peace of Sequoyah county on August 23, 1944, the Governor of Arkansas released the defendant on an “indefinite furlough,” one of the conditions of which was that he should “not return to Arkansas during his lifetime.”

When arraigned in the justice of the peace court on August 23, 1944, defendant waived preliminary, and was bound over to the district court, and his bond fixed at $3,000. Information was filed against him in the district court on August 23, 1944, but he was not arraigned until October 4,1945. On that date counsel was appointed to represent him, he was served with a copy of the information and list of state’s witnesses, and entered a plea of not guilty. His case was set for trial on October 15, 1945, and he was tried on that date.

After the jury had been impaneled and was ready to receive the evidence, the following proceedings were had:

*77 . “Mr. Agent (counsel for defendant) : Comes now the defendant and moves that the above case be dismissed for the reason that the defendant has not been given a speedy trial, as guaranteed by the statutes of Oklahoma- and of the United States — -The Court: You don’t want to argue that, do you? Mr. Agent: We will have to get the warrant before we can continue the motion to show when he was brought in here — the defendant was unlawfully arrested and brought to Sequoyah county, Oklahoma, on October 4th, — Mr. Ingle (County Attorney) : That was the date he was brought here. The Court: You are talking about the date of the original arrest? Mr. Agent: Yes. Unlawfully arrested on August 19th, 1944, and has repeatedly insisted and requested a trial of this case since his arrest and has been refused a trial. At that time the witnesses were available to the defendant, but are not available now and the defendant cannot properly present his defense to the charge. The Court : The record may show the motion is overruled and an exception. Mr. Ingle: We better make a record on it. The Court: All right. You better make your record then. Strike that. I haven’t acted on it yet. G. B. Taylor called as a witness for and on behalf of the State of Oklahoma, in response to the motion to dismiss, having been first duly sworn according to law, testified as follows, to wit: Direct Examination by Mr. Ingle. Q. What is your name? A. G. B. Taylor. Q. Where do you live, Mr. Táylor? A. Northwest of Sallisaw. Q. What official position do you have? A. Court clerk. Q. How long have you been court clerk? A. Since the 4th of January, in 1943. Q. You were court clerk then on August 19, 1944?' A; That is right. Q. Prom August of 1944 until this time has there been a term of court held? A. No, sir. Q. This is the first term of court that has been held? A. Yes, sir. Q. Since the 23rd day of August, 1944, until.this date? A. Yes, sir. Mr. Ingle: That is all. Cross-examination by Mr. Agent: Q. Mr. Taylor, I hand you here the jacket containing the court files in this case. Are all of the files in that case? A. I would have to check the record to see. I would have to check with the docket *78 before I could tell you. Q. Will you do that, please, sir. (Whereupon the witness leaves the stand for a short period and again takes his place in the witness chair.) The Witness: They are all here except the subpoena. The subpoena isn’t here. Q. Do you find a warrant for the arrest of the defendant in this case, Mr. Taylor? A. It is not shown on the docket. Q. There is no warrant in the jacket in the case? A. No, sir. Q. Have you any evidence there of the arrest of this defendant? A. No, sir, I don’t have it. Mr. Agent: That is all. Mr. Ingle: I don’t care anything about asking him anything more. The Court: All right. Witness excused.”

The only question with which we are concerned in this case is whether petitioner was given a “speedy trial” as required by the Constitution and statutes of this state. He makes many references to the violation of different provisions of the Constitution of the United States which are without merit and unavailable. His remarks are contemptuous, and, as hereinbefore stated, if they had been made by an attorney representing a defendant, would not only be stricken, but the attorney would be properly punished. The record in this case does not show enough facts for a proper determination of the question as to whether defendant was given a speedy trial, as contemplated by the Constitution and statutes of this state. The state in its brief does not refer to the question of defendant not having been granted a speedy trial.

It was agreed in open court at the time of the hearing that petitioner was held in the State Penitentiary at McAlester after his arrest and from August 23, 1944, the time he was bound over to the district court, until October 15, 1945, the date his trial was begun, an intervening period of 14 months.

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Related

Daniels v. State
1976 OK CR 326 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1976)
Spigner v. State
1957 OK CR 60 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1957)
Ex Parte Janaway
1946 OK CR 93 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1946)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1946 OK CR 92, 173 P.2d 222, 83 Okla. Crim. 74, 1946 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/janaway-v-state-oklacrimapp-1946.