Case Summary

On June 9, 1881, Dan Sullivan was convicted of petty larceny in front of justice of the peace V.D. Lay and sentenced to 60 days in jail. He filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus against sheriff David Marsh on June 13, 1881, claiming that his confinement was illegal because the writ of certiorari wasn't directed at the sheriff specifically, it didn't specify the county or jail that Sullivan was to be imprisoned in, and Lay had exceeded his jurisdiction in incarcerating Sullivan. The writ was returned and filed on June 13, 1881, but the outcome is unknown.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

• Petty larceny

Sites of significance

• Whitman County Jail (Colfax, Washington)

Outcome

Unknown

Fate of bound party

Unknown

Case Citation

Whitman County Government, Clerk, Territorial Criminal Case Files, 1862-1889, No. 625.

Source material(s)

Case File

Length of case file

Between 6 and 10 pages

Repository(s)

• Washington State Archives, Eastern Regional Branch (Cheney, WA) (Cheney, Washington)

State

• Washington

People

• Sullivan, Dan (petitioner)
• Sullivan, Dan (bound party)
• Marsh, David (respondent)
• Marsh, David (holding party)
• Wingard, Samuel C. (judge)
• Lay, V.D. (authority ordering detention)
• Lay, V.D. (justice of the peace)
• Walford, L.D. (petitioner attorney)

• Additional parties

  Hayes, A. Reeves [clerk]