Ex parte Smith

Ex parte Smith
1947 OK CR 33
179 P.2d 168
84 Okl.Cr. 61
Decided: 03/26/1947
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals

(Syllabus.)

Habeas Corpus Bail Reduced from $15FOOO to $7,500.

Original habeas corpus proceeding by Harold Smith seeking a reduction of bail. Writ granted.

Frank Leslie, of Tulsa, for petitioner.

Page 62

Mac Q. Williamson, Atty. Gen., Sam H. Lattimore, Asst. Atty. Gen., and George P. Pitcher, Co. Atty., of Vinita, for respondent.

PER CURIAM. Petitioner, Harold Smith, filed in this court his petition for habeas corpus oil February 5, 1947, wherein he alleged that he was illegally restrained of his liberty by being imprisoned in the county jail of Craig county, Okla., by the sheriff of said county. That the cause of his restraint was that Justice of the Peace R. M. Green had fixed his appearance bond in the sum of $15,000 upon a charge of second degree burglary pending in said court.

Upon reading the above petition, the writ of habeas corpus was denied, but an order to show cause was issued, and a hearing set upon said petition for February 10, 1947. On that date a response was filed by Win. M. Thomas, sheriff of Craig county, in which it was alleged that petitioner was being held by reason of a warrant and commitment issued out of the justice of the peace court charging petitioner with the crime of burglary, and alleging that the property stolen at the time of the burglary was of the value of more than $5,500.

It was further alleged in said response:

"That at the time of the commission of the said crime, defendant was at large on bail pending appeal from a conviction in the district court of Tulsa county; that beside lessor offenses petitioner has served time in the State Reformatory, Colorado, for robbery with firearms, the State Penitentiary, Missouri, for burglary and larceny, and in the U. S. Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, for violation of the narcotics act, and also for escape from said penitentiary."