State ex rel. Taylor v. Blair, 40690.

• Decision Date: 12 April 1948
• Docket Number: No. 40691.,No. 40690.,No. 40692.,40690.,40691.,40692.
• Citation: 210 S.W.2d 1
• Parties: STATE OF MISSOURI, at the Relation of J.E. TAYLOR, Attorney General, Relator, v. SAM C. BLAIR, Judge of the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

210 S.W.2d 1 STATE OF MISSOURI, at the Relation of J.E. TAYLOR, Attorney General, Relator,
v.
SAM C. BLAIR, Judge of the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri. No. 40690. No. 40691. No. 40692. Supreme Court of Missouri. Court en Banc, April 12, 1948.

Certiorari.

RECORDS OF CIRCUIT COURT QUASHED.

J.E. Taylor, Attorney General, and Gordon P. Weir, Assistant Attorney General, for relator.

(1) The Circuit Court of Cole County is without authority of law to go behind the records of a trial court in a criminal case and consider facts when the records of the trial court are complete upon their face and speak with absolute verity. Flansburg v. Kaiser, 184 S.W. (2d) 1004; Young v. Parker, 195 S.W. (2d) 743. (2) The informations in the trial courts are sufficient and complete upon their face to charge the defendants under the Habitual Criminal Act. Sec. 4854, R.S. 1939; State v. Schneider, 325 Mo. 486, 29 S.W. (2d) 698; State v. Hamilton, 340 Mo. 768, 102 S.W. (2d) 642; State v. Christup, 337 Mo. 776, 85 S.W. (2d) 1024; State v. Sumpter, 335 Mo. 620, 73 S.W. (2d) 760. (3) The Circuit Court of Cole County in habeas corpus proceedings is without authority of law to reduce the sentences imposed by the trial courts. Secs. 4453, 4594, R.S. 1939; State ex rel. Stewart, Acting Warden, v. Blair, 203 S.W. (2d) 716.

S.W. James, Jr., for respondent.

(1) There being no statute or rule of court fixing the time limit for filing application for writ of certiorari, the relator is entitled to a reasonable length of time after the final judgment complained of to make application for the writ. The applications herein having been filed in this court in Case No. 40690 approximately seven months, in Case No. 40691 approximately one year, and in Case No. 40692 approximately one year and four months, after the respective dates of final judgment in the circuit court, and after execution of the judgments, they were filed too late and the writs of certiorari granted herein should be quashed by this court by reason of laches on the part of the relator in making application therefor. State ex rel. Kennedy v. Hogan, 306 Mo. 580, 267 S.W. 619; State ex rel. Hancock v. Falkenhainer, 316 Mo. 651, 291 S.W. 466; State ex rel. Berkshire v. Ellison, 287 Mo. 654, 230 S.W. 970; State ex rel. Scott v. Trimble, 308 Mo. 123, 272 S.W. 66; State ex rel. Al G. Barnes Amusement Co. v. Trimble, 318 Mo. 274, 300 S.W. 1064. (2) The court in a habeas corpus proceeding may accept evidence in support of the records in the case, but not to impeach the records. Flansburg v. Kaiser, 184 S.W. (2d) 1004; Young v. Parker, 195 S.W. (2d) 743; Sisk v. Wilkinson, 305 Mo. 328, 265 S.W. 536. (3) The Habitual Criminal Statute, Sec. 4854, Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1939, is highly penal and should be strictly construed against the state, and liberally for the defendant. State v. Young, 345 Mo. 407, 133 S.W. (2d) 404; State v. Donnell, 353 Mo. 878, 184 S.W. (2d) 1008; 16 C.J., sec. 3150, p. 1399. (4) No person is to be made subject to such penal statutes by implication, and when doubts arise concerning their interpretation, such doubts are to weigh only in favor of the accused. Anthony v. Kaiser, 169 S.W. (2d) 47; State v. Taylor, 133 S.W. (2d) 336, 345 Mo. 325; State v. Lloyd, 7 S.W. (2d) 344, 320 Mo. 236. (5) The instrument termed "conditional commutation of sentence" or "conditional pardon" contains all of the elements of an executive parole, as the prisoner is not relieved from the stigma of his sentence, nor is he finally discharged from further serving the sentence. 31 Words & Phrases, Perm. Ed., pp. 102-104; 46 C.J., sec. 6, p. 1183; 46 C.J., secs. 55-64, pp. 1200-1204; State v. Brinkley, 354 Mo. 1051, 193 S.W. (2d) 49; State ex rel. Stewart v. Blair, 203 S.W. (2d) 717. (6) Under the...