Opinion
No. 20629
Opinion Filed January 14, 1930.
(Syllabus.)
Contempt — Order of Commitment Held Void for Indefiniteness of Duration.
A judgment or order of the court that the defendant be committed to the county jail until he obeys said order, and until the further order of the court or judge thereof, upon a conviction for contempt in refusing to obey an order of the court requiring him to pay certain support and maintenance money, is void for the reason that duration of sentence is indefinite and uncertain.
Original action by Frank S. Lively for writ of habeas corpus. Writ granted.
Ellman Pinnick, for petitioner.
The petitioner, seeking release from the custody of the sheriff of Oklahoma county, whose warrant and authority is a commitment directing that petitioner be confined in the county jail until he obeys a certain maintenance order, and "until otherwise ordered by the court", brings himself clearly within the rule announced in Re John Curtis, 10 Okla. 660, 63 P. 963. See, also, Wells v. Wells, 46 Okla. 88, 148 P. 723. He is therefore entitled to be released. Writ granted.
MASON, C. J., LESTER, V. C. J., and CLARK, HUNT, HEFNER, CULLISON, SWINDALL, and ANDREWS, JJ, concur.
Note. — See "Contempt," 13 C. J. § 131, p. 86, n. 33.