Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 74, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1909 — HABEAS CORPUS [ARTICLE]

HABEAS CORPUS

7_ Proceedings Commenced To Free Tom McCoy. SUIT FILED AT LAPORTE SATURDAY And the Question At Issue Between Attorney General Bingham and Warden Reid Will Be Tested— Comes Up Before Judge Tuthill Saturday.

Laporte, Ind., February, 18—Attorneys representing Thomas .J. McCoy, the Rensselaer banker and former prominent Indiana politician, who is serving a term in the state prison for wrecking his bank by using funds in speculation, to-day brought suit before Judge Tuthill, in the Laporte Superior Court, against Warden James B. Reid for the release of McCoy through habeas corpus proceedings. McCoy was convicted in June 1906, and sentenced to an ifi|erminate term of from one to three years. . • I It is the custom if the prisoner .has been a model convict, and it is recommended to parole him soon after ths minimum term has expired, but all of McCoy’s applications for pardon have been refused by the board, although he has been a model [prisoner. His maximum sentence, i will expire in June, and so the contention of his attorneys is that i since he was not paroled following ■the expiration of the minimum term, he is entitled to time for good behavior.

| Attorney-General Bingham gave it as his opinion to Governor Marshall that this was correct, and ‘the Governor instructed Warden Reid to release McCoy, but this the Warden refused to do, in consequence of which a habeas corpus proceeding was commenced 40-day. An unusual feature is that under .the law the—Attorney-General is :the Warden’s attorney. Judge Tuthill ordered Warden Reid to make answer to the writ on Saturday, Feb. 20.