United States v. Skeen, Civ. A. No. 561

• Decision Date: 15 October 1952
• Docket Number: 608.,Civ. A. No. 561
• Citation: 107 F. Supp. 877
• Parties: UNITED STATES ex rel. FARMER v. SKEEN, Warden. UNITED STATES ex rel. FARMER v. THOMPSON et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of West Virginia

107 F. Supp. 877

UNITED STATES ex rel. FARMER v. SKEEN, Warden.

UNITED STATES ex rel. FARMER v. THOMPSON et al.

Civ. A. Nos. 561, 608.

United States District Court N. D. West Virginia, Wheeling Division.

October 15, 1952.

Carl Bachmann, C. Lee Spillers, Lester Hess and Wayne Brooks, of Wheeling, W. Va., for petitioner.

WATKINS, District Judge.

These two actions have been filed in this court by A. B. Farmer who is now serving a sentence of 25 years in the West Virginia Penitentiary. Although he has not shown ground therefor, the court has appointed four experienced and able lawyers to represent him. The lawyers appointed are Carl Bachmann, C. Lee Spillers, Lester Hess and Wayne Brooks, and these lawyers have gone to the state penitentiary and conferred with him.

The complaint against A. R. Thompson and others is unintelligible and must be dismissed because it fails to state a cause of action.

The action against Orel J. Skeen, warden, is styled a "Petition for Writ of quo Warranto" and "Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus ad Testificandum", but this court believes that petitioner intends his petitions to ask for a writ of habeas corpus to test the legality of his detention, and his petitions will be so considered.

Petitioner was tried and convicted by a jury at the June Term 1940 of the Common Pleas Court of Cabell County, West Virginia, of attempt at armed robbery. On July 12, 1940, motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment were overruled and petitioner was sentenced for a term of 25 years in the state penitentiary. He was represented by counsel. No appeal was prosecuted.

On December 6, 1940 he applied to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia for a writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum, which on the 12th day of December, 1940 was awarded and made returnable before the Judge of the Circuit Court of Cabell County. The Warden of the West Virginia Penitentiary made return, exhibiting certified copies of the indictment, of the court record of arraignment, trial, conviction and commitment, and produced the body of petitioner on the 19th day of December, 1940, when a trial was had, resulting in the discharge of the writ and the remanding of the prisoner. Twenty-four grounds were assigned for the issuance of the writ, most of them relating wholly to what is claimed to be errors in the original trial. As stated by the Supreme Court of West Virginia, that court, "out of its solicitude for the rights of a lay petitioner, felt justified in issuing the writ in order that a full investigation of the charges made, or intimated, might be had." Ex parte Farmer, 123 W.Va. 304, 14 S.E.2d 910, 912, 913. On December 26, 1940, after a full hearing, the Circuit Court of Cabell County dismissed the writ and petitioner was remanded to the warden of the state penitentiary. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, where the action of the lower court was affirmed. No application was made to the Supreme Court of the United States for certiorari. Ex parte Farmer, supra. In its opinion the Supreme Court of West...