Ex parte Sweeden

• Decision Date: 16 April 1947
• Docket Number: A-10847.
• Citation: 179 P.2d 695,84 Okla.Crim. 127
• Parties: Ex parte SWEEDEN.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

179 P.2d 695

84 Okla.Crim. 127

Ex parte SWEEDEN.

No. A-10847.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

April 16, 1947

Original habeas corpus proceeding by Juanita Thelma Sweeden for discharge from the State Industrial School for White Girls at Tecumseh.

Writ granted.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Criminal Court of Appeals assumed original jurisdiction in habeas corpus action to determine apparent conflict in statutes as to whether female who had been adjudged a juvenile delinquent may be confined in State Industrial School for White Girls after she has become eighteen years of age.

2. Repeals of statutes by implication are not favored but it is equally well settled that the Legislature may, within constitutional limitations, express its will in any form which it sees fit and a repeal is effected where the intent to repeal is clearly evidence.

3. Where two statutes cover the same subject and the statute last adopted is repugnant to and irreconcilable with the provisions covering the same subject in the first statute the latest expression of the Legislature will govern.

4. Legislative act of 1909 (Laws 1909, p. 190) purporting to give County Court continuing jurisdiction over any child adjudged delinquent until such child reaches the age of twenty-one years is repealed by Legislative act of 1917 (Laws 1917, Chapter 255, p. 469, § 7) in so far as it pertains to females over the age of eighteen years.

5. A female juvenile delinquent committed to State Industrial School for White Girls is entitled to her discharge upon reaching the age of eighteen years.

6. Syllabus 4 of the case of Ex parte Wilkins, 78 Okl. Cr. 135 145 P.2d 438, is overruled in so far as it pertains to females.

7. Where proof shows that petitioner, an eighteen year old female, was confined in State Industrial School for White Girls, habeas corpus is proper remedy to secure her release from such institution.

Charles D. Crandall and John Worley, both of Oklahoma City, for plaintiff.

Mac Q Williamson, Atty. Gen., and L. A. Wallace, Ass't. Atty. Gen., for defendant.

JONES Judge.

This is an original proceeding in Habeas Corpus instituted by the petitioner, Juanita Thelma Sweeden, to secure her release from confinement in the State Industrial School for White Girls at Tecumseh.

The verified petition alleges that the petitioner was adjudged a delinquent minor in November, 1945, and was committed by the County Court of Bryan County to the State Industrial School for White Girls on April 18, 1946. The petition further alleges that the petitioner became eighteen years of age on January 18, 1947, but that the Superintendent of said Industrial School refused to release her from said institution after she became eighteen years of age and that she is still confined at said institution.

The verified petition further alleges that the restraint is illegal and unauthorized in that the statutes of Oklahoma do not authorize the continued confinement of a female after she has arrived at the age of eighteen years.

The Superintendent of the State Industrial School for White Girls filed a response to the petition in which she admitted that the petitioner was eighteen years of age on January 18, 1947, and alleges that she is detained in her institution as a ward of the County Court of Marshall County, Oklahoma; that by virtue of § 112, Tit. 10 O.S.1941, the County Court of Marshall County having adjudged the petitioner a delinquent when she was seventeen years of age has continuing jurisdiction over such delinquent until she arrives at the age of twenty-one years, and that by reason thereof the detention of the petitioner under the order of the County Judge of Marshall County is legal and that said petition should be denied.

This Court assumed original jurisdiction to determine the question presented by reason of the apparent conflict in the statutes as to whether a female who has been adjudged a juvenile delinquent while under the age of eighteen years may still be restrained of her liberty and confined in an institution after she has reached her majority, or eighteen years of age.

The statute under which the respondent claims authority for restraining the petitioner after she becomes eighteen years of age reads as follows: 'Every child who shall have been adjudged delinquent, whether allowed to remain at home, or placed in a home, or committed to an institution, shall continue to be a ward of the court until such child shall have been discharged as such ward by order of court, or shall have reached the age of twenty-one years, and such court may during the period of wardship cause such child to be returned to the court for further or other proceedings, including parole, or release from an institution.' Tit. 10 § 112, O.S.1941. This statute was adopted by the Legislature in 1909 and was set forth as § 4424 in the Revised Laws of 1910.

At the 1909 Legislative session there was also passed an act pertaining to the commitment of boys and girls to the State Institutions which statute is now Tit. 10 § 238, O.S. 1941 and provides: 'It shall be the duty of said Board of Control to receive to the extent of the means placed at its disposal and conditions afforded by the buildings belonging to said school, all persons committed to its care and guardianship under the provisions of this Article, and all boys committed thereto shall be committed until they arrive at the age of twenty-one years unless sooner reformed. And all girls committed thereto shall be committed until they arrive at the age of eighteen years unless sooner reformed.'

In 1917, the Legislature adopted a new chapter pertaining to the State Industrial School for White Girls and among the different paragraphs of said chapter which became a law at that time appears the following, Tit. 10 § 218, O.S. 1941: 'It shall be the duty of the superintendent to receive to the extent of the means placed at his or her disposal and the conditions afforded by the buildings belonging to said institution, all girls committed to its care and guardianship under the provisions of this act. Such commitment shall continue in force and effect until the girl so committed shall have arrived at the age of eighteen (18) years, unless sooner discharged as provided herein.'

It is the contention of the petitioner that the passage by the Legislature of the act, Tit. 10 § 238, O.S. 1941, supra shows that the Legislature never intended to vest the juvenile court with authority to control the custody and habits of a mature adult and it is further reasoned in petitioner's brief that the passage by the Legislature of the act in 1917, Tit. 10 § 218, O.S. 1941, repealed by implication any authority which had existed prior thereto attempting to vest jurisdiction in the County Court over females after they have arrived at the age of...