The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-03-19
ArNn.nIAcmNG DECISION.

ono 90 the most f1r-roachIug decisions hand
cd down by the criminal court of appeals ~
Oklahoma during ITS entire history WIS tnut u
Saturday ln the case NJ y. W. riuucy
FInncy while acting as 70 peace officer, and
while attempting 20 catch a mythical car re-
ported to have been loaded with liquor, ordered
a car to stor. whether tho driver heard tho
command or, hearing n, construed it an effort
to hold him up, may not Doc stated. At any
event the car dId not stop and the officers I'M
mediatcy began firing into the top OF tho car
with the result that two innocent women were
killed Fiuucy, who was leading the official
party, was rcmaudcd for trial ON charge Of
murder without bail. lls couuacl sued In tho
higher court for a writ ot hohcas corpus In
denying the application the court rendered the
decision Of yesterday
The opinion. written by Justice Bcssy and
concurred In by Presiding Judge Doyle and As
soclute Justice Matson. reminds one Of somo
Of John MarshaIls famous decisions In tho
Courageous manner In which It sets forth the
private citIzen's constitutional rights as the con-
sderaton paramount u an governmental
activities In a day Of vicious and fanatlcal
dIsrcspcct for those rights by even tho petucst
Of our peace officers It comes cooling
breath upon the fcyored checks OF indignant
citizens.
Peace officers must observe the law precisely
~ other folk. That Is the nub OF the dccison,
startling alone because OF conditions which
have become general.
NO one" says tho honorable court,
whether private person or officer. has any
right to mako an arrest without warrant
in tho absence OF actual belief based on
actual igcis creating nr9hI93ie cause 'aus39,s1i Ii
guilt, SUSPICION WITHOUT CAUSE
CAN NEVER BE AN EXCUSE FOR SUCH
ACTION Tho two must both exist and be
reasonably wcll founded"
In It's amplitcaton the court says clearly In
theory at least that peace officer has right
to stop and search an automobile on mere sus-
plcon. TO bring tho point much closer homo,
according to the reasoning Of the court, tho
recent Incident In Tulsa county, whore officers
deliberately wayloid certain stretches OF road
ana stopped and searched every car which
iasscd. many innocent persons thus being out
ragged In order that two or three so-callcd booze
cars might bo apprcheudod, was clearly viola
tive OF the law az Illegal in Itself as the act OF
Transporting contrahand liquor.
Again: The police officers who were stationed
on North Denver few nights ago, stopping
and searching automobiles promlscuously on
moro suspicion based on neither "actual be-
lief nor actual facta' with reference to any par
ticuInr car identified by either number or
make, were as clearly violating the law as any
citizen they might have apprchendcd with con-
traband liquor IN his possession, Tho one killed
was a victim OF Illegal law enforcement
The outstanding point OF the decision is that
search aud seizure is not legal even by peace
officers unless It IL done under tho warrant OF
the courts issued for a particular case and a
particular occasion. Tho tenet OF constitutions
law, that a peace officer only possesses author
ity to act without writ when a crime IL com
mittcd in. his presence or directly under his eye
so that there cannot possibly be a mistake con
ccrnlng the iudcuuty OF the offender Is siver
new judicial baptism,
The court points out that IN a single county
Of this state within the past few months five
Innocent persons have been murdered by peace
officers acting in such utter defiance of law al
set forth in the decision; that these murdeu
ha,o been committed In Illegal attempts e
opprohcud citizens merely suspected OF com
mnung. not felony, but a msdemcanor
that as q consequence existing effort to enforce
law is grca,cr menace to the peace and secur
l,y u citizens than the violations OF law.
Almost inevitably the decision will be VT
c,ousIy afsa,lcd by those unable to realize the
lmmcasurable importance OF safeguarding al
All hazards tho law-abldng cIuzon's rights al
set forth I'm the basic law Of tho land. Untor
tunatey there are those who are unable &,
grasp tho great truth OF human liberty an'
legal procedure and this class is so fanatica
that Il does not hesitate TO attribute the bases
OF motives 10 those who oppose them ever
though the opposition be based on grounds a
a.,