Huie v. Lewis
| Decision Date | 02 April 1954 |
| Parties | HUIE v. LEWIS, Sheriff. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Davis, Davis & McClure, Madison, for petitioner.
Wm. Randall Slaughter, Live Oak, for respondent.
This is a petition for writ of certiorari, seeking to review an order denying the prayer of a petition in the Court below against the Sheriff of Suwannee County, as respondent, praying for an alternative writ of mandamus commanding the sheriff to permit him to visit forthwith one Ruby McCollum in the jail of Suwannee County, Florida, and discuss with her the case of the State of Florida v. Ruby McCollum, or to show cause, if he can, why petitioner should not be permitted to visit the said Ruby McCollum in the jail of Suwannee County, Florida, and discuss with her the said case. The prayer of the petition was denied by the Circuit Judge.
It was alleged in the petition for mandamus that the petitioner is the author and writer of books and articles for newspapers and magazines and that he is under contract with Duell, Sloan & Pearce, publishers, 124 East 30th Street, New York City, to write a complete story of the life and the killing of one Doctor C. L. Adams, Jr., of Live Oak, Florida, by one Ruby McCollum on August 3, 1952. He further alleged that Ruby McCollum was indicted and tried for the murder of Doctor Adams, convicted by a jury of murder in the first degree and adjudged guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced by the Court to be electrocuted. The judgment of the Court, based upon the verdict of guilty, among other things contained the following:
'* * * Therefore, it is the Judgment of the Court and the Sentence of the Law, that you, Ruby McCollum for your said offense, do be remanded to the custody of the Sheriff of Suwannee County, Florida, to be by him safely kept in the common jail of said County until the Governor of the State of Florida shall have issued his death warrant for your Execution, and that after issuance of Warrant for your Execution by the Governor you shall be conveyed to the State Prison Farm at Raiford, Florida, * * *.'
An appeal from that judgment is now pending in the Supreme Court of the State of Florida.
The petitioner shows no other interest in the case. He is not an attorney, or counsellor, for the prisoner and he is not related to her by consanguinity or affinity. He alleges that he has no interest in the matter except his contract with the publishers and to prepare the story for magazines and newspapers.
The petition was presented to the Honorable R. H. Rowe, Circuit Judge. After reviewing the facts, as appears in the order with reference to said petition on the merits thereof, the order stated:
'Accordingly, the prayer of said petition is hereby denied.'
The petition for mandamus was a common-law action and a separate and independent suit. There may have been one thousand or ten thousand such suits filed by persons desiring to interview the prisoner. It is not a supplemental proceeding to the main case of the State of Florida v. Ruby McCollum and has no connection with it except the desire of an individual to visit and interview Ruby McCollum for the purpose of getting material to write a story to sell to be published in newspapers and magazines.
The order made by the Circuit Judge was...
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Schneider v. Manheimer
...the judgment of an inferior court if there is any other adequate remedy. Lewis v. Lewis, Fla.App.,1955, 78 So.2d 711; Huie v. Lewis, Fla.App.,1954, 71 So.2d 498; Pennekamp v. Circuit Court, 155 Fla.App., 589, 21 So.2d 41 (1945); Sirman v. Conklin, 154 Fla.App., 304, 17 So.2d 298 (1944); Saf......
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Huie v. State
...time that this Court has been called upon to pass on some facet of the unfortunate situation that produced the problem. See Huie v. Lewis, Fla.1954, 71 So.2d 498; McCollum v. State, Fla.1954, 74 So.2d 74; and State ex rel. Huie v. Lewis, Fla.1955, 80 So.2d The case last cited was a habeas c......
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Hastings v. Osius
...in many other cases we have held that certiorari is not available to review a judgment which may be reviewed by appeal. Cf. Huie v. Lewis, Fla.1954, 71 So.2d 498, 499. This proposition seems to be conceded by the respondent but he argues that the judgment reviewed by the District Court was ......
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State ex rel. Huie v. Lewis
...in attempting to get permission to see Ruby McCollum in the County Jail to get information from her to go in his book. Huie v. Lewis, Fla., 71 So.2d 498. He discussed with the doctor all the hearsay evidence he had been able to gather concerning Dr. Adams and his immoral and illegal activit......