89 So. 915 | Miss. | 1921
delivered the opinion of the court.
James Oliver was arrested in the state of Tennessee by the sheriff of Panola county, Miss., without having obtained a warrant in the state of Tennessee or résorting to extradition proceedings. Oliver was brought back into Mississippi without it being disclosed to him what charge was made against him until after he reached this state. The sheriff placed Oliver in jail instead of carrying him to the conservator of the peace to answer some crime charged, and on the 8th day of June, Oliver sued out a writ of habeas corpus before the circuit judge, alleging that he was unlawfully detained by J. A. Carter, sheriff of Panola county in a jail at Batesville, Miss., on a charge, according to the sheriff, of robbing a bank at Como, Miss. That no legal proceedings have been instituted charging the petitioner Avith said offense, and that the only knowledge he has of the matter is that he has been informed by the sheriff that he is held for the robbery of said bank. He alleged that he Avas not guilty of the charge or any part thereof, but was deprived of his liberty unlawfully and Avas entitled to be discharged. This petition was sworn to and filed on the 8th day of June, 1921, and a writ Avas directed to be issued returnable before the judge at Sardis on the 16th day of June, 1921. The sheriff answered that he had the relator in custody under authority of a mittimus executed by one J. L. Burgin, justice of the peace of district No. 1, Panola county, a copy being filed with the ansAver, and that Oliver failed to make and execute bond as required of him by said order and mittimus, said mittimus having been
The co'urt sustained the motion to dismiss but announced that if the relator so desired he could amend his petition so as to show the bond required was excessive, but refused to hear the relator on the merits or to hear evidence as to the guilt or innocence of the charge. The relator excepted, and thereafter amended his petition so as to charge
It appears that some party in Memphis, Tenn., bad signed the bond, and thereafter scratched his name therefrom without delivering the bond, and refused to make it. Nothing appears to show that the appellant himself has sufficient cash money to make the bond required, nor does it appear what relation he bore to the parties in Tennessee, nor that they would make the bond or that they were under any obligation to the relator so to do. The deputy sheriff states that the relator received a check for eight hundred and eighty-three dollars from one Nolen in Tennessee, and that this check was for his attorney appearing in the case. One Waggner testified that Nolen owned seven drug stores, and that he had signed the bond for one man named Chambers, but struck his name off the bond, and that Chambers made a ten thousand dollar cash bond, and he stated that the relator could make the bond required of him through Nolen and others. The court refused to reduce the bond fixed by the justice of the peace, and ordered that the bond be fixed at the sum of twenty thousand dollars, and that the relator be remanded to jail until said bond was made, and ordered that the relator be removed to Tallahatchie county jail at Charleston, Miss. No proof was taken in open court nor any reason stated in the order for removing the relator to Tallahatchie county.
We think the court was in error in refusing to hear the relator on the merits of the charge. There had been no indictment found against the relator by the grand jury and
On the second point we think the court was also in error for the reason that a twenty housand dollar bond under the facts of this record was clearly excessive. The evidence of the relator Avas that his ability to give bond was limited to three thousand, five hundred dollars. The evidence of the sheriff was based upon opinion, and there is nothing in the bill of exceptions that convinces us that Nolen or any other parties would put up twenty thousand dollar bond for the relator. While the habeas corpus court is not limited in its action to the testimony of the relator on his ability, still there must be something in the nature of substantive evidence, apart from mere opinion, that the party could make the bond required of him. A bond must be reasonable. The condition of the relator to give bond, the nature and character of the offense charged, and the maximum punishment to be inflicted on a conviction are all to he taken into consideration in determining the amount of bond. The public policy of thé state favors bail, and under modern conditions criminals can be located and returned for trial much more easily and efficaciously than in former years.
The judgment will be reversed, and the .cause remanded to be heard before the circuit judge at such reasonable time as he may fix. So ordered.
Reversed and remanded.