Rogers v. Peck

The appellant, Mary Mabel Rogers, having been convicted and sentenced in the county court of Bennington, in the state of Vermont, of the crime of murder in the first degree, filed her petition on June 19, 1905, for a writ of habeas corpus against the sheriff and superintendent of the state prison, in the district court of the United States for the district of Vermont. The petition, having been heard, was denied on June 22, 1905. From that order an appeal was taken to this court.

The conviction of appellant was had at the December term, 1903, of the Bennington county court, and she was sentenced to be confined at hard labor in the state prison at Windsor until the 3d day of November, 1904, and on and after that day to be kept in solitary confinement until February 3, 1905, on which day she should suffer the penalty of death by hanging. On the first day of February, 1905, the Governor of the state of Vermont reprieved the execution of sentence until June 2, 1905. On April 29, 1905, the appellant presented a petition for a new trial to two judges of the supreme court of Vermont. On May 5, 1905, the judges made an order allowing the petition for new trial to be filed, and fixed May 10 for the hearing thereof. After hearing before the supreme court, sitting at Montpelier, Washington county, on May 30 an order was made dismissing the petition, and refusing the new trial. Rogers v. State, 77 Vt. 454, 61 Atl. 489. On June 1, 1905, the execution of sentence was further reprieved by the Governor until June 23, 1905. Thereupon appellant filed her petition in the Federal court for the writ of habeas corpus, which was dismissed, as heretofore stated. On the date of the dismissal of her petition (June 22, 1905), the Governor further reprieved the execution of the sentence until December 8, 1905. The appeal to this court was allowed on June 22, 1905. The petitioner (appellant) averred that, by the various proceedings in the state courts and her incarceration in the prison in solitary confinement, she has been restrained of her liberty and is about to be executed without due process of law, guaranteed for her protection by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Messrs. Tracy L. Jeffords, T. W. Moloney, and F. M. Butler for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 427-428 intentionally omitted]

Mr. Clarke C. Fitts for appellee.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 428-431 intentionally omitted]

Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court: