Ex parte Washington

Ex parte Washington
1948 OK CR 89
198 P.2d 225
87 Okl.Cr. 378
Decided: 09/29/1948
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals

(Syllabus.)

Habeas Corpus--Petition Dismissed Where Prisoner Released From Confinement in Penitentiary.

Original proceeding in habeas corpus by Walter Washington, petitioner, seeking his release from confinement in the State Penitentiary. Petition for writ of habeas corpus dismissed.

Charles E. Dierker, of Oklahoma City, for petitioner.

Mac Q. Williamson, Atty. Gen., and Sam H. Lattimore, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.

JONES, J. The petitioner, Walter Washington, was charged with the crime of murder in the district court of Pottawatomie county, Okla., on August 28, 1942, alleging that he did commit the crime of murder on August 31, 1931. He was subsequently tried and convicted of manslaughter in the first degree and sentenced to serve a term of 20 years in the State Penitentiary. On appeal this court modified the sentence to a term of ten years imprisonment in the State Penitentiary and affirmed

Page 379

the judgment. Washington v. State, 80 Okla. Cr. 300, 159 P.2d 278.

This action was instituted by the petitioner in which he seeks his release from confinement in the penitentiary on the grounds that the charge of manslaughter for which he was convicted was barred by the statute of limitations, and that therefore the court erred in submitting the issue of manslaughter in the first degree to the jury, and the court was without jurisdiction to sentence him for the crime of manslaughter which was barred by the statute of limitations.

Extensive briefs have been filed by counsel for the petitioner and also by the Attorney General.