STATE OF FLORIDA EX REL. JAMES CAYWOOD MURDOCK,
v.
NATHAN MAYO, AS CUSTODIAN OF FLORIDA STATE PRISON
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James Caywood Murdock petitioned for habeas corpus claiming there was no judgment of conviction against him. The Florida Supreme Court found that a typewritten copy of his sentence omitted a critical line, but the official court record showed he was properly adjudged guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years, making his detention lawful.
The Court held that Murdock was duly adjudged guilty of manslaughter and lawfully sentenced. The omission in the typewritten copy was a clerical error that did not affect the validity of the conviction or sentence as evidenced by the official court records.
“It is quite apparent that in making a typewritten copy of the sentence and judgment for the use of petitioner the typist left out the words 'The Court adjudges you to be guilty of manslaughter.' An error of this kind often occurs when one short sentence ending in a particular word is immediately preceded by another sentence ending with the same word.”
Explains the discrepancy between documents and characterizes it as a clerical error, not a defect in the judgment itself.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMurdock was indicted for first-degree murder of Jesse B. Hendricks. A jury convicted him of the lesser offense of manslaughter. A typewritten copy of …
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This is an original proceeding in habeas corpus wherein we issued our writ directed to the Respondent Hon. Nathan Mayo as Custodian of the State Prison Farm.
*257It was represented in the petition that there had been no judgment of conviction of the petitioner and attached to the petition was an alleged certified copy of what purported to be sentence and judgment, the pertinent part of which was as follows:
“You, James Caywood Murdock, by the Grand Jury’s Indictment in this case, were charged with the offense of murder in the first degree of one Jesse B. Hendricks. On this charge contained in this Indictment you have been tried before a Jury of twelve good and lawful men and that Jury has convicted you of manslaughter. What have you to say, or what cause have you to show to this Court why sentence of the law should not be passed upon you?
“The defendant saying nothing sufficient, it is, Considered, Ordered and Adjudged by the Court that you, James Cay-wood Murdock, for your said offense, be delivered by the Sheriff of Duval County, Florida, to the proper officer of the State Prison of the State of Florida, at Raiford, Florida, there to be confined at hard labor for the full term and period of Fourteen (14) years.”
The return of the respondent has attached thereto and made a part thereof a photostatic certified copy of the sentence and judgment as the same appears in Minute Book 82 on page 13 of the Public Records of Duval County, Florida, the pertinent part of which is as follows:
“You, James Caywood Murdock, by the Grand Jury’s Indictment in this case, were charged with the offense of murder in the first degree of one Jesse B. Hendricks. On this charge contained in this Indictment you have been tried before a jury of twelve good and lawful men and that jury has convicted you of manslaughter.
“The Court now adjudges you to be guilty of manslaughter. What have you to say, or what cause have you to show to this Court why sentence of the law should not be passed upon you ?
“The defendant saying nothing sufficient, it is Considered, Ordered and Adjudged by the Court that you, James Cay-wood Murdock, for your said offense, be delivered by the Sheriff of Duval County, Florida, to the proper officer of the *258State Prison of the State of Florida, at Raiford, Florida, there to be confined at hard labor for the full term and period of Fourteen (14) years.”
It is quite apparent that in making a typewritten copy of the sentence and judgment for the use of petitioner the typist left out the words “The Court adjudges you to be guilty of manslaughter.” An error of this kind often occurs when one short sentence ending in a particular word is immediately preceded by another sentence ending with the same word.
It appears from the record as now presented before us that the petitioner was duly adjudged guilty of the offense of manslaughter and was sentenced by the Court accordingly.
It is, therefore, our judgment that petitioner be remanded to the custody of the respondent.
It is so ordered.
TERRELL, BROWN and SEBRING, JJ., concur.
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Wood v. Cochran, 118 So. 2d 193 (Fla. 1960)…in the future we here point out that an unsworn petition has no evidentiary value when met by an undisputed return which presents photostatic exhibits of court records clearly sustaining the legality of the detention. State ex rel. Murdock v. Mayo, 153 Fla. 256, 14 So. 2d 421; State ex rel. Waldrop v. Mayo, 125 Fla. 442, 170 So. 117. Here the allegations of the unsworn petition were shown by the return and its exhibits to be totally without merit. It is not our purpose to forestall the presentation of any…