Oates v. People

Plaintiff in error, Oates, will be referred to as defendant. He was named defendant in a criminal complaint in the justice court on November 14, 1956. This complaint charged in five counts offenses against the person of a young boy. The justice of the peace issued a warrant for the arrest of defendant and he was brought into the justice court on November 21, 1956. After entering a plea of not guilty, defendant waived a preliminary hearing and consented that he be bound over to the district court for trial. The district attorney filed the information in the district court and on November 27, 1956, a capias for the arrest of the defendant was issued out of the district court and defendant was placed in the county jail to await trial. On November 29, 1956, defendant entered a plea of not guilty and counsel was assigned to defend him. On December 6, 1956, counsel for defendant filed a motion to quash the information and the following day defendant withdrew his plea of not guilty. On December 11, 1956, counsel for defendant filed in the criminal proceeding a petition entitled "In the Matter of Frank Walton Oates for a Writ of Habeas Corpus." This petition set forth that the arrest of defendant was illegal because no warrant for his arrest had been issued; that the information had been filed without leave of court and that the complaining witness, who verified the criminal complaint, had no personal knowledge of the commission of the crime or crimes charged in the information -- these being the same grounds urged in the motion to quash the information.