L. F. CHAPMAN, AS SUPERINTENDENT OF THE STATE PRISON, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR,
v.
J. F. STUBBS, DEFENDANT IN ERROR
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
The Florida Supreme Court reversed a circuit court's habeas corpus order releasing J. F. Stubbs from a five-year prison sentence for embezzlement. The court held that the circuit court's judgment was valid and conclusive because the record showed proper indictment, arraignment, and guilty plea before sentencing, making the habeas corpus discharge improper.
The judgment of the circuit court was valid and conclusive. The court held that habeas corpus cannot be used to impeach or challenge the records of a court of record when those records show the jurisdictional facts of indictment, arraignment, and guilty plea before sentencing. The circuit court's order releasing Stubbs was therefore erroneous and was reversed.
“The records aforesaid, of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, impart absolute verity and cannot be impeached, nor averred against, by any allegation of the petitioner for the writ of habeas corpus attempting to present for determination an issue that the judicial records, duly certified to by the Clerk of the Circuit Court, do not speak the truth.”
Establishes the conclusiveness of court records and prevents habeas corpus from being used to challenge the validity of certified judicial records.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceStubbs was indicted on October 14, 1930, by the Jackson County Grand Jury for embezzlement alongside H. H. McNeill, Jr. Both defendants pleaded guilty…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Judgment Of Conviction cases and more on FLexlaw
In habeas corpus proceedings the Circuit Court entered its judgment ordering petitioner, J. F. Stubbs, released from imprisonment, and ordered him to be discharged from further serving a sentence imposed by the Circuit Court of Jackson County on October 5, 1930, whereby Stubbs was sentenced to serve a term of five years in the State Prison. A writ of error allowed on behalf of the State Prison authorities brings the case here for review.
The return to the writ of habeas corpus showed that petitioner was being held under a sentence of the Court reading as follows:
“Wednesday, October 15th, 1930. State of Florida v. J. F. Stubbs. Embezzlement. ‘You, J. F. Stubbs, having entered a plea of guilty to the offense of embezzlement, the first count of the indictment filed herein, the Court adjudges you to be guilty, therefore it is the judgment of the Court and the sentence of the law that you, J. F. Stubbs, for your said offense be confined in the State Prison of the State of Florida, at hard labor, for a period of five (5) years.’ ”
The return also shows that on October 14, 1930, there was presented in open Court by the Grand Jury of Jackson County, and filed in their presence, an indictment charging the defendant Stubbs and one H. H. McNeill, Jr., with embezzlement, and that to said indictment'the defendants McNeill and Stubbs pleaded guilty.
The records aforesaid, of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, impart absolute verity and cannot be impeached, nor averred against, by any allegation of the petitioner for the writ of habeas corpus attempting to' present for determination an issue that the judicial records, duly certified to by the Clerk of the Circuit Court, do not speak the truth. Hoehne v. Trugillo, 1 Colo. 161; Houston v. Williams, 13 *194Cal. 24, 73 Am. Dec. 565; Galloway v. McKeithen, 5 Iredell Law (N. C.) 12 27 N. C. 12, 42 Am. Dec. 153.
Undoubtedly a judgment of conviction, prior to the finding of any indictment' against the accused, would be, as contended by petitioner, absolutely void, because such judgment would be the attempted jurisdiction of a court without any jurisdiction on its part to enter a judgment of any kind against the accused. But the conclusiveness of the records of a court of record, such as are our Circuit Courts, precludes an attack on their judgments by habeas corpus, when the records themselves show the jurisdictional fact of an indictment, arraignment and plea of guilty by petitioner on October 14, 1930, followed by a judgment and sentence entered against him on October 15, 1930.
So the judgment releasing the prisoner must be reversed. Judgment is accordingly entered in this Court to the effect that the Circuit Court’s discharge of the prisoner, J. F. Stubbs, from custody be revoked and said prisoner ordered to be apprehended and re-delivered to the state prison authorities, there to be remanded to the State Prison to be confined therein until the judgment and sentence of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Florida, be fully satisfied, or the defendant be discharged therefrom according to law.
Judgment of the Circuit Court reversed and appropriate judgment given by Supreme Court.
Whitfield, Terrell, Brown and Buford, J. J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Sneed v. Mayo, 66 So. 2d 865 (Fla. 1953)…he cause should be set down for hearing on the merits. The purpose of such a hearing is not to contradict the judicial record, for this is not permissible in a habeas corpus proceeding. Spencer v. Gomez, 114 Fla. 688, 154 So. 858; Chapman v. Stubbs, 109 Fla. 192, 147 So. 227; Skipper v. Schumacher, 124 Fla. 384, 169 So. 58. See also Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 82 L.Ed. 1461, 146 A.L.R. 357; Cochran v. State of Kansas, 316 U.S. 255, 62 S.Ct. 1068, 86 L.Ed. 1453; Palmer v. Ashe, 342 U.S. 1…
-
State ex rel. David L. Wilson v. Culver, 110 So. 2d 674 (Fla. 1959)…ial court import verity and will be presumed to be true and valid as against a collateral attack in a habeas corpus proceeding. State ex rel. Grebstein v. Lehman, 100 Fla. 481, 129 So. 818; Hanley v. State, 50 Fla. 82, 39 So. 149; Chapman v. Stubbs, 109 Fla. 192, 147 So. 227; Sneed v. Mayo, Fla. 1953, 66 So. 2d 865, 874. The petitioner’s allegation that he “did not plead guilty to escape or the word escape was not mentioned” is insufficient to rebut the presumption of verity made by the official record. Cf.…
-
Gentry v. State, 172 So. 2d 433 (Fla. 1965)…the verity of court records cannot be questioned on habeas corpus but they should be corrected by application to the trial court to cause its records to speak the truth. Hanley v. State, 1905, 50 Fla. 82, 39 So. [*434] 149; Chapman v. Stubbs, 1933, 109 Fla. 192, 147 So. 227, and State ex rel. Wilson v. Culver, Fla.1959, 110 So. 2d 674. It thus appears that petitioner is not entitled to relief by habeas corpus. If in a proper proceeding he is able to demonstrate to the trial court that its records do not s…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence