Ex Parte Lamb

• Decision Date: 03 June 1925
• Citation: 89 Fla. 481,104 So. 855
• Parties: Ex parte LAMB.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

104 So. 855

89 Fla. 481

Ex parte LAMB.

Florida Supreme Court

June 3, 1925

En Banc.

Original petition by J. J. Lamb for writ of habeas corpus to be admitted to bail.

Bail denied.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

If, on conviction, sentence is capital punishment, accused may not be discharged from custody on bail, if conviction is of capital offense, though sentence is not to capital punishment, accused cannot be allowed bail, if proof is evident or presumption is great that capital offense was committed. Sections 6151 and 6553, Revised General Statutes 1920, and section 9, Declaration of Rights of the Florida Constitution, considered together, in effect provide that where, upon conviction, the sentence is capital punishment the defendant shall not be discharged from custody even upon bail, and where the conviction is of a capital offense though the sentence is not to capital punishment, the defendant cannot be allowed bail, 'where the proof is evident or the presumption great,' that a capital offense was committed by the defendant.

On verdict of murder in first degree, recommendation to mercy and sentence to life imprisonment do not change degree of offenses as to granting bail. Where there is a verdict of murder in the first degree, a capital offense, a recommendation to mercy and a sentence to life imprisonment under the statute, do not change the degree of the offense found by the verdict.

In applications for bail, effect of verdict of guilty of murder in first degree should be considered in weighing probable force of evidence. In applications for bail, the effect of a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree should be considered in weighing the probative force of the evidence.

On evidence showing that proof is evident of capital offense committed by accused, bail is not allowable after conviction though sentence is life imprisonment. An examination of the evidence, considered in the light of the verdict, and its effect on opposing evidence, at least indicates that 'the proof is evident' of a capital offense committed by the defendant, as charged in the indictment and found by the jury; therefore under the law bail is not allowed after conviction, even though the sentence is not death but life imprisonment.

COUNSEL

John B. Singeltary and Dewey A. Dye, both of Bradentown, and Thomas Palmer and W. B. Dickenson, both of Tampa, for petitioner.

Rivers Buford, Atty. Gen., and J. B. Gaines, Asst. Atty. Gen., opposed.

OPINION

WHITFIELD, J.

The petitioner, having been convicted for murder in the first degree with a recommendation to mercy, and sentenced to life imprisonment, brings habeas corpus for release on bail pending the event of a writ of error taken by him to the judgment of conviction.

Section 6151 and 6153, Revised General Statutes of 1920, and section 9, Declaration of Rights of the state Constitution, are as follows:

'In no case, whether capital or not, shall a writ of error be a supersedeas to the execution of the judgment, sentence or order complained of, except upon payment by the plaintiff in error of all costs which have accrued in the case up to that time, and upon his entering into bond with two or more sufficient sureties according to law, in a sum sufficient to secure the payment of such judgment, fine and future costs, as may be adjudged and affirmed in the appellate court, and conditioned that the plaintiff in error shall be personally forthcoming to answer and abide the final order, sentence or judgment which may be passed in the premises by the appellate court, and that in case the cause is remanded, that the plaintiff in error shall personally be and appear at the next term of the court in which the case was originally determined, and thereafter to be held to answer in the premises and not to depart from the court without leave thereof. But in cases where capital punishment is by the sentence of the court ordered to be inflicted, the person of the defendant shall be the only security required for his forthcoming to answer as aforesaid.' Section 6151, Rev. Gen. Stats. 1920.

'If the party applying for a writ of error shall at the time be in custody under sentence of conviction, the allowance of such writ of error and the obtaining of such supersedeas shall not discharge him from custody except...