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Ex Parte Boyd

Criminal Court of Appeals of Oklahoma
Sep 28, 1923
24 Okla. Crim. 434 (Okla. Crim. App. 1923)

Opinion

No. A-4866.

Opinion Filed September 28, 1923.

(Syllabus.)

Habeas Corpus — One Convicted Under Unconstitutional Law Discharged. A person who has been convicted of violating an unconstitutional law will be discharged on habeas corpus.

Habeas corpus by Louis Boyd for release from custody. Writ allowed, and petitioner discharged.

H.M. Adams, for petitioner.

The Attorney General and N.W. Gore, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.


This is a petition for writ of habeas corpus for the discharge of Louis Boyd from the penitentiary at McAlester, wherein it is alleged that he is unlawfully restrained of his liberty by J.H. Townsend, warden; that the cause of said restraint is a commitment issued upon a judgment of conviction pronounced by the district court of Logan county, on a charge of having in his possession mash, and rendered on the 22d day of September, 1923; and alleging that said restraint is illegal and unauthorized because act approved February 5, 1923 (chapter 1, Session Laws 1923), making it a felony to possess mash, wort, or wash fit for distillation, is unconstitutional and void, as determined and decided by this court in the case of Ex parte D.E. Smith, 24 Okla. Cr. 415, 218 P. 708, which opinion was handed down on the same day as the judgment herein complained of was rendered.

The Attorney General concedes that the writ should issue and the petitioner be discharged.

In the case of Ex parte Smith, 24 Okla. Cr. 415, 218 P. 708, the statute upon which this prosecution is based was held unconstitutional and void. It follows that petitioner is unlawfully restrained of his liberty by the respondent, and that the is entitled to a discharge from the imprisonment of which he complains, and he is therefore by the judgment of this court discharged therefrom.

The clerk of this court will forthwith forward to the warden of the penitentiary at McAlester a duly certified copy of this opinion, and upon receipt of the same said warden is directed to discharge said petitioner, Louis Boyd.

MATSON, P.J., and BESSEY, J., concur.


Summaries of

Ex Parte Boyd

Criminal Court of Appeals of Oklahoma
Sep 28, 1923
24 Okla. Crim. 434 (Okla. Crim. App. 1923)
Case details for

Ex Parte Boyd

Case Details

Full title:Ex parte LOUIS BOYD

Court:Criminal Court of Appeals of Oklahoma

Date published: Sep 28, 1923

Citations

24 Okla. Crim. 434 (Okla. Crim. App. 1923)
218 P. 715

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