MacOmber v. Alexander

255 P.2d 164, 197 Or. 685, 1953 Ore. LEXIS 205
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedApril 8, 1953
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 255 P.2d 164 (MacOmber v. Alexander) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
MacOmber v. Alexander, 255 P.2d 164, 197 Or. 685, 1953 Ore. LEXIS 205 (Or. 1953).

Opinion

BRAND, J.

The plaintiff Macomber instituted this action by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The writ issued and the defendant Alexander filed a return, setting forth a judgment by virtue of which he held the plaintiff in custody in the state penitentiary. The plaintiff filed an amended traverse against which a demurrer was filed by the defendant and sustained by the circuit court. The writ was dismissed with.prejudice and the plaintiff was remanded to the custody of the defendant and the plaintiff appealed. The facts established by the judicial record and alleged in the amended traverse will be set forth in chronological order.

On 19 October 1939 Macomber was convicted of the crime of grand larceny and was sentenced to five years imprisonment. Thereafter an information was filed by the district attorney of Polk county, charging him with having been convicted of two previous felonies prior to his conviction on 19 October 1939, the two previous convictions being for the crime of grand larceny in September 1931 and the crime of assault with intent to rob in May 1933. The defendant was informed by the court of the allegations contained in the information and of his right to be tried as to the truth thereof. Defendant stated that he was the same person mentioned in the several records and had been convicted as charged in said information after being duly cautioned as to his rights. Thereupon and on 23 October *688 1939 the circuit court of Polk county vacated the judgment imposed on 19 October 1939 and sentenced the defendant Macomber to a maximum term of 39 years 360 days. On 25 September 1945, Macomber, as plaintiff, secured the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus and on 15 April 1946 the circuit court of Marion county issued an order discharging the plaintiff from custody. The defendant Alexander appealed to the Supreme Court and the order discharging the plaintiff was reversed by this court. Macomber v. State et al, 181 Or 208, 180 P2d 793. On 23 March 1948, by order of this court, the plaintiff was remanded to the custody of the warden of the penitentiary. At the time of the issuance aof our mandate, the plaintiff was in the state of Washington and was forcibly transported from that state to the Oregon state penitentiary. On 25 May 1951 the plaintiff filed the pending petition for habeas corpus in Marion county. After hearing, the writ was dismissed and the plaintiff was remanded to the custody of the warden. ‘On the plaintiff’s appeal, the questions for determination arise upon the demurrer to the amended traverse. The amended traverse contains the following allegations and contentions:

“Y
“Plaintiff alleges that the imprisonment, incarceration and restraint of plaintiff was and is illegal upon the following grounds, noe [sic] of which was presented to or decided by the said Supreme Court in the above mentioned case;
“1. The order of sentence under which the plaintiff is now serving is void for the reason that said order of sentence was not entered or imposed until after the plaintiff had been committed to the Oregon State Penitentiary under sentence on his last previous conviction, and had served a part of said sentence.
*689 “2. The appellants in the said proceeding before the Supreme Court of Oregon had no right of appeal, and the Court had no jurisdiction of said appeal, as O.C.L.A., 11-443, which purports to grant such right and jurisdiction is in conflict with Article I, Section 23, of the Oregon Constitution, which prohibits the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus.
“3. The appeal granted from an order in habeas corpus proceedings by O.C.L.A., 11-443 is for the correction of the record, and the future guidance of inferior courts only, and cannot affect the rights of a person who has by the order appealed from been unconditionally discharged.
“4. The present imprisonment of the plaintiff, and the order thereof, was and is illegal and void for the reason that the plaintiff had been unconditionally released, and his sentence vacated without any qualification whatsoever, by the order of the Circuit Court hereinabove mentioned, and attached hereto, and Plaintiff was in fact released from the Oregon State Penitentiary pursuant to said order, and his present reimprisonment is in fact in violation of Article I, Section 23, of the Oregon Constitution, which prohibits the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus.
“5. At no time since the order entering the mandate of the Supreme Court, a copy of which is on file herein, attached to the petition and marked Exhibit ‘A’, has the petitioner been lawfully committed to the Oregon State Penitentiary for the following reasons;
“a. On the date of the said order entering the mandate of the Supreme Court the plaintiff was in fact in the State of Washington, and there remained until he was seized and restrained by defendant herein, together with other persons whose exact identity is unknown, and was immediately forcibly transported from the State of Washington to the Oregon State Penitentiary,
“b. Said defendant and said other persons *690 acted wholly without legal authority to so seize and transport said plaintiff to the State of Oregon, in that the extradition of the plaintiff had not been authorized as prescribed by the laws of Oregon.
“c. At the time of said seizure and transportation plaintiff was in custody of the State of Washington pursuant to a conviction of a crime under the laws of the State of Washington, and was not lawfully released from said custody.
“YI
“At the time of his imprisonment under said order entering the mandate of the Supreme Court of Oregon, hereinabove mentioned, and continuously thereafter, the plaintiff desired and attempted to petition the Supreme Court of Oregon for a re-hearing, and did everything within his power to gain access to the courts, but was unqualifiedly denied permission to contact legal counsel or to gain access to the courts in any other manner whatsoever, until early in the calender [sic] year, 1951.”

By his first assignment, the plaintiff asserts that the court erred in ruling that the plaintiff’s present imprisonment is authorized by statute.

The essence of the plaintiff’s contention is that a prisoner who has been discharged from custody by a trial court cannot be remanded to custody when, upon appeal, it has been determined that the trial court erred in making the order discharging the prisoner. The issue presented may be subdivided as follows: First, is there a right of appeal from an order discharging a prisoner from custody, and second, if, upon the appeal it is determined that error was committed in the order discharging the prisoner, may the appellate court by mandate direct that the prisoner who has *691 been enlarged be remanded to custody? The general rule has been variously stated.

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Related

State v. Fox
421 P.2d 977 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1966)
Glen T. MacOmber v. Clarence T. Gladden, Warden
304 F.2d 487 (Ninth Circuit, 1962)
Knowles v. Gladden
362 P.2d 763 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1961)
MacOmber v. Gladden
337 P.2d 971 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1959)
State v. Endsley
331 P.2d 338 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1958)
State v. Barreras
328 P.2d 74 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1958)
Landreth v. Gladden
324 P.2d 475 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1958)
Anderson v. Britton
318 P.2d 291 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1957)
ANDERSON Ex Rel POE v. GLADDEN
288 P.2d 823 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1955)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
255 P.2d 164, 197 Or. 685, 1953 Ore. LEXIS 205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/macomber-v-alexander-or-1953.