Case Summary
On October 23, 1893 Adolph Krug, who was the acting treasurer of the city of Seattle at the time, was convicted on the charge of using public money to make a profit for purposes not authorized by the law, for using $10,000 of lawful money. On March 26, 1894 Krug's motion for a new trial was denied, and he was sentenced to serve 7 years of hard labor in the Penitentiary of the State of Washington, and to pay all costs.
Krug appealed to the Supreme Court of the State of Washington, and he alleged that this judgement is contrary to his rights as a citizen of the United States, as enumerated by the constitutions of Washington and the United States. Among other things, Krug claimed he was never made aware of the nature of charges against him, and therefore was not able to adequately defend himself, contrary to his constitutional rights. The Supreme Court of Washington affirmed the judgement of the lower court, and they stated that while citizens maintained the right to know the nature and cause of accusations against them, but Krug and people of "his kind" were not afforded that right.
Krug filed a Habeas petition on February 11, 1897 to prompt an investigation into his rights and to receive a fair trial. On March 8th, 1897, the petition was denied, and Judge Hanford argued that issuing a writ would be an unwarranted interference with the execution of the laws of the state. Krug decided to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court likely affirmed the ruling as supplemental research reveals that in July, 1899 Krug was granted parole from Walla Walla penitentiary.
Case Information
Petition type(s)
Petition subtype(s)
Sites of significance
Outcome
Petition denied
Fate of bound party
Unknown
Case Citation
RG21 US District Courts, Western District of Washington, Seattle, Records of the Northern Division, Case Files, 1890-1972, No. 599
Source material(s)
Case File
Length of case file
Between 31 and 40 pages
Repository(s)
State
Point(s) of law cited
Section 57 of the Code of Washington (Second Volume of Hill's Code)|United States Constitution Article VI|Enabling Act|Washington Code of 1896 section 5944|Hill's Code, Sec. 58, Vol. 2|the "Chapman case"|the "Royal case"
