O'Malia v. Wentworth
| Decision Date | 13 June 1876 |
| Citation | 65 Me. 129 |
| Parties | Patrick O'MALIA v. Eben WENTWORTH. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
Nov. 4 1875.
ON EXCEPTIONS from the superior court.
ON PETITION for habeas corpus by the plaintiff, a minor under sentence of confinement in the reform school against the superintendent thereof.
The justice of the superior court ruled pro forma, denying the right of the petitioner to discharge, and the petitioner excepted.
Execution of a sentence to the reform school may be delayed such reasonable time as the court thinks proper, as such delay will only shorten the term of imprisonment; all sentences thereto being during minority.
C. E Clifford & W. H. Clifford, for the petitioner.
C. F Libby, for the defendant.
This is an application for a writ of habeas corpus to obtain the release of Patrick O'Malia, now detained at the reform school in Cape Elizabeth, for truancy.
I. It is claimed that his detention is illegal because the warrant on which he was originally arrested and brought before the municipal court for trial, was served by a truant officer. We think the truant officer was the proper person to make the arrest. Truant officers alone are to make complaints and execute the judgments of the court. R. S., c. 11, § 14. We think the word " judgments," as here used, is not limited to the sentence, or final decree in the case; we think it is used in a broader sense, and includes an interlocutory as well as a final judgment; the determination to have the truant arrested and brought to trial, as well as the determination to send him to the reform school. Surely, it could never have been the intention of the legislature to employ two officers in so small a business, one to arrest the truant, and another to commit him.
II. The detention is claimed to be illegal, because the offense of truancy is not sufficiently described in the complaint and warrant. We cannot look at the complaint and warrant. We can only examine the precept by which he is detained. If on inspection thereof, he appears to be lawfully imprisoned, or restrained of his liberty, the writ must be denied. R. S., c. 99, § 8.
III. Another objection to the complaint is that, it does not contain a recital of the city ordinance on which the prosecution is founded. The same answer lies to this objection as to the one just considered. We cannot look at the complaint to see whether it is sufficiently formal or not. And another sufficient answer is that, the act establishing the municipal court of the city of Portland expressly declares that in prosecutions on the by-laws thereof, such by-laws need not be recited in the complaint. Act of 1856, c. 204, § 4.
IV. Another objection to the legality of the imprisonment is that it should have commenced earlier. It appears that execution of the sentence was suspended " upon the good behavior of the respondent," and that he was not actually committed to the reform school till nearly a year after the sentence was passed. We think his present...
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Dwyer v. State
...discretion of the Court; and the writ will not be granted unless the real and substantial justice of the case demands it. O'Malia v. Wentworth, 65 Me. 129, 132. As a technical proposition, habeas corpus dismissed after hearing, is not res adjudicata, Turgeon v. Bean, 109 Me. 189, 83 A. 557,......
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Ex parte Holbrook
...sound discretion of the court; and the writ will not be granted unless the real and substantial justice of the case demands it" O'Malia v. Wentworth, 65 Me. 129; Ex Parte Sweetland, Petitioner, 124 Me. 58, 126 A. 42. And in Knowlton v. Baker, 72 Me. 202, Stuart v. Smith, 101 Me. 397, 64 A. ......
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Wallace v. White
...may be void, and at the same time the authorized part in force. The granting or refusing the writ in this case is discretionary. O'Malia v. Wentworth, 65 Me. 129. "Persons convicted, or in execution upon legal process, criminal or civil," are not entitled of right to have the writ of habeas......
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Ex Parte Gosselin.
...than whether the petitioner is being held on process issued by competent authority in accordance with law and in proper form. O'Malia v. Wentworth, 65 Me. 129; Hibbard v. Bridges, 76 Me. 324; 25 Am.Jur. 144, Par. 2; 39 C.J.S., Habeas Corpus, § 1, page 425. Habeas corpus has been declared an......