Hightower v. Hollis

• Decision Date: 10 November 1904
• Parties: HIGHTOWER v. HOLLIS.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

48 S.E. 969

121 Ga. 159

HIGHTOWER

v.HOLLIS.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Nov. 10, 1904.

CHIMINAL LAW — SENTENCE — TWO OFFENSES —-HABEAS CORPUS—REVIEW.

1. The principle ruled in Fortson v. Elbert County, 43 S. E. 492, 117 Ga. 149, that, "if a defendant is found guilty of more than one offense, and the imprisonment under one sentence is to commence on the expiration of the other, the sentence must so state, else the two punishments will be executed concurrently, " has no application in a case where the different sentences were imposed by different courts.

2. One who, without objection, goes to trial before a judge who, under the law, receives his compensation from the fines imposed upon those convicted in his court, will not be heard, after conviction, on the trial of a petition for habeas corpus, to urge that the act establishing the court in which he was convicted is void because the method provided for compensating the judge is contrary to public policy.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error from Superior Court, Monroe County; E. J. Reagan, Judge.

Application of Will Hightower for habeas corpus to L. O. Hollis to secure release from a chain gang. From an order denying the same, petitioner brings error. Affirmed.

A. A. Murphey, for plaintiff in error.

O. H. B. Bloodworth, Sol. Gen., W. W. Lambdin, and Saml. R. Rutherford, for defendant in error.

CANDLER, J. This was a petition for habeas corpus, brought to secure the release of Hightower from the chain gang of Monroe county. The case was submitted to the judge of the superior court of the Flint circuit upon the pleadings and an agreed statement of facts. The prayers of the petition were denied, and Hightower excepted. From the statement of facts it appears that Hightower was tried and convicted under an accusation brought in the city court of Barnesville, and was sentenced to pay a fine of $50 or be confined in the chain gang for nine months. He took the case by certiorari to the superior court, and pending the hearing of the certiorari was released on bond in accordance with the terms of the judge's order. Subsequently he was indicted by the grand jury of Pike county on a charge of carrying concealed weapons, to which charge he pleaded guilty, and the judge of the superior court sentenced him to a term of six months on the public works. After his indictment on the charge of carrying concealed weapons, the security on his bond in the city court case surrendered him to the sheriff, and he was duly imprisoned. Upon the call of the certiorari case the judge of the superior court, for reasons stated, dismissed the certiorari. Hightower was held in jail until 10 days after the dismissal of his petition for certiorari, "when he was hired by the commissioners of Pike county to the commissioners of Monroe county, to be worked in the chain gang of said county. Said hire was for six months, and ended on the 26thof April, 1904, at which latter time the judge of the said city court hired him to the same chain gang for the term of nine months, as provided in the city court sentence, " and Hightower is now confined in that chain gang in the charge of Hollis. The contentions of the petition for habeas corpus are, first, that the two sentences, one imposed by the judge of the city court and the other by the judge of the superior court, were concurrent as to time, and that, having...