Case Summary

On September 2, 1905, Turner Jackson petitioned for habeas corpus against U. S. Marshal C. B. Hopkins. Jackson argued that Hopkins refused to discharge him despite his sentence being complete due to United States laws that entitled him to a deduction from his sentence for time in which he was a good prisoner. On September 4, Judge Cornelius H. Hanford commanded that Hopkins show cause for Jackson's detention. Hopkins responded that Jackson was not entitled to release because, under the United States laws in force at the time of his imprisonment, his term still had more than a year left. In an opinion, Hanford determined that, although a "good conduct" statute passed in 1902 was contradictory, it was intended to apply retroactively and on September 9, 1905, Hanford ordered that Jackson be discharged. United States attorney Jesse Frye and Marshal Stringer appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals, and Hanford fixed Jackson's bail at $10,000. Jackson eventually secured recognizance and Hanford ordered that he be at large pending the appeal. Newspaper coverage indicated Jackson has been arrested for aiding in the escape of a prisoner, when in fact he had disrupted a lynch mob in Skagway, AK and was then arrested and convicted after the lynching target escaped. Jackson received a pardon. One of the newspapers covering his habeas hearings described him as "negro," but there are no additional records to confirm he was Black.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

• Assault with intent to kill

Sites of significance

• McNeil Island Penitentiary (Steilacoom, Washington)

Outcome

Writ allowed

Fate of bound party

Released on bail

Case Citation

RG21 US District Courts, Western District of Washington, Seattle, Records of the Northern Division, Case Files, 1890-1972, No. 1325

Source material(s)

Case File

Length of case file

Between 41 and 50 pages

Repository(s)

• National Archives and Records Administration, Seattle Branch, Washington (Seattle, WA) (Seattle, Washington)

State

• Washington

Point(s) of law cited

"An Act to regulate commutation for good conduct for United States prisoners" (32 U.S. Stats. 397|U.S. Compiled Statutes, 1901, Supplement 448.); Sections 5543-4 U.S.R.S. Amendments in act of March 1875 and act of March 1891 (U.S. Compiled Statutes, 1901, pp.3721-3722-3727) Walters Case (128 Fed. ep 791) Farrar Case (133 Fed. Rep. 254)

People

• Jackson, Turner (petitioner)
• Jackson, Turner (bound party)
• Hopkins, Charles. B. (respondent)
• Hopkins, Charles. B. (responding party)
• Hopkins, Charles. B. (holding party)
• Jones, Richard Saxe (R. S. ) (petitioner attorney)
• Brinker, William H. (petitioner attorney)
• Hanford, Cornelius Holgate (judge)
• Stringer, John (responding party)
• Frye, Jesse (respondent attorney)
• Metcalfe, James Bard (petitioner attorney)

• Additional parties

  Snoddy, James S. (Notary Public)

  Walthew, H. M. (Deputy Clerk)

  Ayres, A. Reeves (Clerk)

  Brinker, William H. (Unknown)

  Hopkins, R. M. (Deputy)

  Frye, Jesse A. (United States Attorney)

  Moore, A. N. (Deputy Clerk)

  Knox, P. C. (Attorney General in Congressional Record)

  Ray, George W. (Chairman of House Judiciary Committee in Congressional Record)

  Sullivan, Patrick (Recognizance)

  Madigan, J. J. (Recognizance)

  Jones, R. M. (Notary Public)

  Davisson, L. S. (Deputy Marshal)