Miscellaneous

Say It with Us: "Habeas!"

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Evidently, habeas writs are unheard of in Idaho. So much so that court staff in Bonneville, County, Idaho, does not know what they are. Normally, this is not a problem.

Now court clerks are learning about habeas the hard way. A defendant was about to be released on bond, but then was told he could not leave because a federal warrant had been issued. Trouble was, he'd never seen any warrant. No service, no writ, no trial date, and no chance to post bond.

No writ was filed because, according to the defense counsel's legal assistant, the clerks would not file it for her. This reminds us of the urban legend about the Taco Bell employee who wouldn't take a $2 bill, except that this is no legend, and much more than a gordita is at stake.

The court administrator is looking on the bright side: "The Writ of Habeas Corpus is a document East Idaho courts haven't seen very much of - so we try to make it into a positive learning experience where we let clerks know that that's a writ that always should be accepted and immediately filed and then presented to a judge."

See Michael Mahaffy Case's Rare Court Document Gives Clerks a Lesson, Suzanne Hobbs, KPVI (January 23, 2008). The Idaho court staff might want to check out the ACLU's Find Habeas blog, which hasn't been updated as of late but does contain amusing pictures and a useful, reader-friendly definition and history of habeas corpus, plus the usual political stuff. Everyone else might want to check out Justia's Federal District Court Filings & Dockets, where one can find out just how many habeas petitions have been filed in various federal courts.

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on January 24, 2008 (boomark / email).