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In the matter of the application of John Fenezia for a writ of Habeas Corpus

June 17, 1924 - February 18, 1926

Petitioned on November 18, 1924

Filed before the US District Court for the Omaha Division of the District of Nebraska (Omaha, Nebraska)

Filed before the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Omaha, Nebraska)

Case ID: hc.case.ne.1536

Case Summary

On November 18th, 1924 John Fenezia filed for and received an order for a writ of Habeas Corpus having been arrested and deprived of his liberty by Dennis Cronin and C. J. Palmer in July of that year. Fenezia was arrested and held in Hall County Jail on accounts of selling liquor in violation of the National Prohibition Act. He had previously been given trial for said accounts where he was sentenced to three months on three counts and a fine of $400. In his petition it was presented that he was entitled to his freedom having been held for longer than the three months imposed as the longest period of imprisonment. The court agreed and ruled for him to be discharged. It was March of the following year that a petition for appeal was made by Cronin and Palmer. They presented that the sentence ordered the three months on the three counts to run consecutively and thus it would be a nine month sentence and that the imposed fine imposed imprisonment until it was paid. This appeal being allowed lead to a mandate order from the Circuit Court of Appeals in February 1926 to discharge the writ of Habeas Corpus and remand Fenezia to custody which was then carried out later that same month.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

  • Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

  • Unlawful sale of intoxicating liquor

Sites of significance

Outcome

Writ denied

Fate of bound party

Remained in custody

Case Citation

National Archives at Kansas City, Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009, U.S. District Court for the Omaha Division of the District of Nebraska, Series: Law Dockets, 1912-1938, Vol. 8: Oct 10, 1924-Dec 17, 1925, pp. 41-42; National Archives at Kansas City, Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009, U.S. District Court for the Omaha Division of the District of Nebraska. (2/27/1907- ), Series: Law Case Files, 1912-1938, No. 1671

Source material(s)

Docket | Case File

Length of case file

Between 31 and 40 pages

Repository(s)

State

  • Nebraska

Tag(s)

  • Appeal

People

Citation

Katrina Jagodinsky, Cory Young, Andrew Varsanyi, Laura Weakly, Karin Dalziel, William Dewey, Erin Chambers, Greg Tunink. “In the matter of the application of John Fenezia for a writ of Habeas Corpus.” Petitioning for Freedom: Habeas Corpus in the American West, 1812-1924, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Accessed November 21, 2024. https://petitioningforfreedom.unl.edu/cases/item/hc.case.ne.1536

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