Ex parte Dennis
Ex parte Dennis
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Dennis had been indicted for murder, and was in confinement to await trial, when he applied for bail, which was granted. Subsequently he was tried and convicted, and appealed to this court, which reversed the conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. Dennis, being in prison pending the trial and the appeal, made a new application for bail, which the same chancellor who had decided the previous application granted him, and the state appeals from that.
On this last application there was a fiat for the writ; but it seems that the sheriff made no return as to the legality of his confinement. We decline to reverse, because the sheriff did not answer. The object of the fiat was to have the body before the presiding judge. That the body was produced is plain; and as the same chancellor presided who presided before, and as his decree recites that there was no other evidence in the
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ex Parte Louis Dennis
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Criminal Law and Procedure. Bail. Return of sheriff. Harmless error. The granting of bail to one confined awaiting a second trial for crime will not be reversed because the sheriff made no return as to the legality of the confinement, where the body of accused was produced before the chancellor, who had granted bail on accused’s application prior to the first trial, and where there was no other evidence in the case, except that which had been heard on the previous application.