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Habeas Corpus of Joseph H. Abbott against A. E. Griffiths Chief Police

September 12, 1914 - September 17, 1914

Petitioned on September 12, 1914

Filed before the King County Superior Court (Seattle, Washington)

Case ID: hc.case.wa.1154

Case Summary

On September 12, 1914, Joseph H. Abbott and his attorneys Robert Welch and John Dore filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. They claimed Michael T. Powers, acting Chief of Police, and Austin E. Griffiths, Chief of Police, were holding Abbotts without proper process of law or a warrant. Griffiths and Powers produced a warrant from Utah judge Otis W. Brinker dated September 12, 1914, which stated that Abbott was a fugitive from justice and therefore should be arrested. On September 11th, 1914 Abbott was charged on complaint of passing a fictitious check in Utah. Welch and Dore filed a motion to quash the return of the respondents, on the grounds that it didn’t satisfy the legal requirements for the continued detainment of Abbott. The outcome of this case and Abbott’s fate are unknown.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

  • Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

  • Fugitive from justice

Sites of significance

Outcome

Unknown

Fate of bound party

Unknown

Case Citation

King County Government, Judicial Records, Superior Court, Case No. 103576

Source material(s)

Case File

Length of case file

Between 11 and 20 pages

Repository(s)

State

  • Washington

People

Citation

Katrina Jagodinsky, Cory Young, Andrew Varsanyi, Laura Weakly, Karin Dalziel, William Dewey, Erin Chambers, Greg Tunink. “Habeas Corpus of Joseph H. Abbott against A. E. Griffiths Chief Police.” Petitioning for Freedom: Habeas Corpus in the American West, 1812-1924, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Accessed December 17, 2024. https://petitioningforfreedom.unl.edu/cases/item/hc.case.wa.1154

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