Schneider v. State, 18710
| Citation | 157 S.E.2d 593,250 S.C. 298 |
| Decision Date | 09 October 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 18710,18710 |
| Parties | Oscar E. SCHNEIDER, Appellant, v. STATE of South Carolina et al., Respondents. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina |
William F. Austin, James H. Fowles, Jr., Columbia, for appellant.
Daniel R. McLeod, Atty. Gen., Edward B. Latimer, Carl R. Reasonover, Asst. Attys. Gen., Columbia, for respondents.
The instant appeal is ostensibly, though not effectually as we shall herein point out, from three orders of the Court of Common Pleas for Richland County entered by two circuit judges, and one order of the Richland County Court, all denying the appellant relief in habeas corpus proceedings.
The facts of the case are pathetic, and by numerous habeas corpus proceedings and correspondence have been previously brought to the attention of the judiciary, both state and federal, as well as at least two governors of the state. It would serve no useful purpose to relate the facts in detail at this time.
To state such briefly, in March 1947, appellant was arrested and subsequently charged in the Court of General Sessions for Charleston County, inter alia, with the offense of arson. On motion of his attorney, he was sent to the State Hospital for examination pursuant to the provisions of what is now Sec. 32--969 of the 1962 Code of Laws, by an order entered in the Court of General Sessions for Charleston County, dated May 31, 1947, and signed by the late Honorable William H. Grimball, then Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit. Upon examination, the State Hospital determined that he was insane and suffering from dementia praecox (schizophrenia) paranoid type. There is nothing in the record before us to suggest that his mental condition has subsequently improved.
On November 8, 1947, Judge Grimball, based on the examination of the State Hospital, and pursuant to what is now Sec. 32--970 of the 1962 Code of Laws, issued another order in the Court of General Sessions for Charleston County confining appellant to the State Hospital for the duration of his mental illness and providing that upon his recovering sufficiently to leave the hospital he be released to the Sheriff of Charleston County. Since the last mentioned order the appellant has remained a patient of the State Hospital, except for an escape in February 1948, during which one Charleston County police officer was killed, and another wounded, in the course of apprehending appellant for his return to the State Hospital. Due to the insanity of appellant, criminal charges in the Court of General Sessions for Charleston County have been stricken off but with leave to restore, and appellant, under the circumstances, has of course never been tried on any of the charges against him.
The only question presented on appeal is the contention of the appellant that the orders entered in the Court...
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Schneider v. State
...the attention of this court. A brief summary of the history of the case is contained in the opinion of this court in Schneider v. State, 250 S.C. 298, 157 S.E.2d 593. The present appeal is from an order of the Common Pleas Court of Richland County denying relief, after a full hearing, in a ......