Ex parte Sistrunk

• Decision Date: 12 March 1947
• Docket Number: A-10831.
• Citation: 178 P.2d 627,84 Okla.Crim. 17
• Parties: Ex parte SISTRUNK.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

178 P.2d 627

84 Okla.Crim. 17

Ex parte SISTRUNK.

No. A-10831.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

March 12, 1947

Proceeding in the matter of the habeas corpus of Roy J. Sistrunk to be admitted to bail.

Bail granted.

Syllabus by the Court

1. Upon application for bail by Writ of Habeas Corpus, after commitment for capital offense by a magistrate, the burden is upon the petitioner to show that he is illegally deprived of his liberty and entitled to bail.

2. A mere conflict of testimony even upon a vital issue, does not of itself entitle a defendant charged with a capital offense to be admitted to bail. The evidence must be considered as a whole, and when considered, unless the proof is evident or presumption great that defendant is guilty as charged and that upon conviction he probably would receive a life sentence or death, he is entitled to bail.

3. Petitioner's testimony considered together with that of other witnesses in support of his alibi in robbery with firearms case and found sufficient to entitle defendant to a reasonable bail. Held further, that $15,000 is a reasonable bail under circumstances of particular case.

Homer Cowan, of Norman, for plaintiff in error.

Mac Q Williamson, Atty. Gen., Sam Lattimore, Asst. Atty. Gen., and James R. Hester, County Atty., of Norman, for defendant in error.

JONES Judge.

This is an original proceeding instituted by the petitioner, Roy J Sistrunk, for the purpose of being admitted to bail upon a charge of robbery with firearms now pending against him in the District Court of Cleveland County.

The verified petition alleges that the said Roy J. Sistrunk is deprived of his liberty and restrained in the County Jail of Cleveland County by reason of a commitment issued by the County Judge of Cleveland County, committing him to the County Jail after a preliminary examination had on a complaint wherein the petitioner was charged with having committed the crime of robbery with firearms; that an information was filed in the District Court of Cleveland County on January 7, 1947, charging the petitioner with the crime of robbery with firearms allegedly committed upon the person of one Kenneth Rutledge on July 19, 1946; that the proof is not evident nor the presumption thereof great that petitioner is guilty of a capital offense; that petitioner has made application to be admitted to bail to the District Court of Cleveland County which application was denied.

Attached to the petition and made a part thereof was a transcript of the evidence taken at the hearing before the District Court of Cleveland...