King v. State

• Decision Date: 22 January 1918
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 270
• Citation: 16 Ala.App. 341,77 So. 935
• Parties: KING v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Appeals

77 So. 935

16 Ala.App. 341

KING v. STATE.

6 Div. 270

Court of Appeals of Alabama

January 22, 1918

Rehearing Denied Feb. 26, 1918

Appeal from Criminal Court, Jefferson County; H.P. Heflin, Judge.

Petition by Dave R. King for writ of habeas corpus. From a judgment denying the writ, petitioner appeals. Affirmed.

Erle Pettus, of Birmingham, for appellant.

F. Loyd Tate, Atty. Gen., for the State.

SAMFORD J.

The record in this case is irregular in several particulars, but the parties have tried the issues in the court below as if they had been well pleaded and properly submitted, and both in brief and argument in this court the errors in the record have been treated as clerical, and we will so treat them ignoring such irregularities, which, if insisted upon, would be more particularly considered.

The defendant was indicted by the grand jury of Bullock county on a charge alleging that he had embezzled funds coming into his hands as administrator of the estate of a decedent, under an appointment as such administrator by the probate court of Bullock county. A capias was issued out of the circuit court of Bullock county, based on said indictment, and sent to the sheriff of Jefferson county, who arrested the petitioner and put him in jail in Jefferson county, whereupon the petitioner sued out a writ of habeas corpus before H.P. Heflin, judge of the criminal court of Jefferson county, alleging, among other things, that "the jurisdiction of said court of Bullock county has been exceeded as to place or person; that no such offense was ever committed by defendant in Bullock county." There were other allegations, but, for the purposes of this decision, it is not necessary to set them out or mention them. The writ was issued, and upon the trial the sheriff of Jefferson county showed that he was holding the petitioner by virtue of an indictment returned by the grand jury of Bullock county to the circuit court of said county, and a capias issued out of said court charging petitioner with embezzlement of funds coming into his hands as administrator, under an appointment from the probate court of Bullock county. It was admitted on the trial that petitioner was appointed administrator by the probate court of Bullock county of the estate named in the indictment; that he qualified as such and immediately left Bullock county going to Jefferson county, Ala., where he received as such administrator under said appointment $200. It was shown by the petitioner without objection that since his appointment as administrator he had not been in Bullock county; that he had not paid out any of the money in Bullock county; and there was testimony showing that he had never had possession of any of the money or property of the estate in Bullock county, Ala.

The writ of habeas corpus has been extolled by all the great text-writers as the "great writ" for the protection of the liberties of the people from usurpation and oppression. It has been jealously guarded, from the granting of the Magna Charta, and has been preserved to us both in the Constitution and statutes of this state, section 17 of the Constitution providing that the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended by the authorities of this state, and full provision is made for its application in chapter 227 of the Code of 1907, in which chapter (section 7033) it is provided:

"If it appears that the party is in custody, by virtue of process from any court legally constituted, *** he can only be discharged--(1) where the jurisdiction of such court has been exceeded, either as to matter, place, sum or person."

But the writ did not originate nor was it designed to embarrass or interfere with the courts in the due administration of justice in cases where such courts have the general jurisdiction of the subject-matter and of the person of the defendant. It is contended for the petitioner in this case that the jurisdiction of such court has been exceeded as to place, and that section 7225 of the Code, which says "The local jurisdiction of all public offenses, unless it is otherwise provided by law, is in the county in which the offense was committed," coupled with section 6694 fixing the jurisdiction of circuit courts, and section 6 of the Constitution, which guarantees to every defendant prosecuted by indictment "a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offense was committed," limit and fix the jurisdiction of the circuit court in criminal cases to offenses committed in the county, and that, when that jurisdiction is exceeded, the writ of habeas corpus will lie.

But section 143 of the Constitution provides that circuit courts shall have original jurisdiction of all matters civil and criminal within the state, not otherwise excepted in the Constitution, thus giving to the circuit courts general jurisdiction of all crimes committed...