Case Summary

At trial on 3 December 1893, Charles Stevens plead guilty to malicious destruction of property valued at less than $100. After the trial before the District Court, Stevens was sentenced to 4 months in the County Jail and was ordered to pay a $100.00 fine plus the costs of the trial which were $43.78 in total. The order was signed by Judge Charles Ogden who, at the time, was one of the District Court Judges. His term concluded at the end of that year as he was filling a temporary vacancy. A petition was submitted to the District Court on 5 February 1894 which stated that Stevens had been held in the County Jail since 2 December 1893. The petition asserts that the maximum penalty provided by law is imprisonment for a term not exceeding 30 days and that the District Court had no jurisdiction or power to sentence Stevens for a longer term. Judge Cunningham R. Scott ordered that the writ be allowed and that the petitioner and County Attorney appear in Court on 6 February 1894. At that trial, Judge Scott held that Stevens was unlawfully deprived of his liberty and ordered that he be discharged and that costs of these proceedings be taxed to the County.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

• Malicious destruction of property

Sites of significance

• Douglas County Jail (Omaha, Nebraska)

Outcome

Writ allowed

Fate of bound party

Released from custody

Case Citation

History Nebraska, RG230 Douglas County Records, Subgroup 10: District Court, 1855-1972, Series 2: General Index Books & Court Journals, Vol. 25: Dec. 28, 1893 - Feb. 6, 1894, p. 784; History Nebraska, RG230 Douglas County Records, Subgroup 10: District Court, 1855-1972, Series 2: General Index Books & Court Journals, Vol. 26: Feb. 6, 1894 - Mar. 14, 1894, pp. 7-8; Douglas County District Court, Civil Appearance Docket Files, Project No. 45, Roll 571: Doc. 42-257 to 42-287, No. 42-282

Source material(s)

Case File | Journal | Index

Length of case file

Between 11 and 20 pages

Repository(s)

• History Nebraska (Lincoln, Nebraska)
• Douglas County District Court (Omaha, Nebraska)

State

• Nebraska

People

• Rutherford, G. A. (petitioner attorney)
• Kaley, Jacob L. (respondent attorney)
• Stevens, Charles (Chas.) (petitioner)
• Stevens, Charles (Chas.) (bound party)
• Scott, Cunningham R. (judge)
• Ogden, Charles (authority ordering detention)
• Drexel, John C. (holding party)
• Mullen, J. S. (holding party)

• Additional parties

  Moores, Frank (Clerk)