Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-03-24
There's a Legal Way
To Break Out Of Jail
Continued From First Page

9 Proctor sentenced him to 4 to
1 IL years for robbery.
Ten years later the murder in
dictment was dismissed.
For exactly one year Jordan
J. remained in District jail. search
ing for some means of gaining
freedom. He listened to guard
house lawyers and studied the
only legal book available in the
Z prison library. 1t was the United
States Code.
Grasped Legal Straw
He resorted to the straw at
4 which all prisoners grasp. 1t
Is the habeas corpus writ and
Section 1855. Title IS, dealing
with the right to a speedy trial
and guarantees under the Sixth
I Amendment.
Court blotters are glutted with
such writs. Probably one in a
thousand is successful. Most are
based on information supplied
by Self-styled experts" who
cant obtain their own release
from Jail.
4 Neither did Jordan's first
However. his 9th appearance in
court. based on such a writ. car
ried him all the way to the
Supreme Court and eventual re-
lease.
Claimed Bias on Bench
Behind him was weller of
legal action that cluttered IA
pages of the court docket. His
various files piled on top Of one
another make a stack 10 inches
high.
He also was on record with
petitions of prejudice and bias
against most of the judges in
District Court, including Henry
Schweinhaut. the man who
eventually set him free.
Those named for prejudice in
cluded also Chief Judge Bolitha
j. Laws and Judges Edward A.
Tamm. F. Dickinson Let's, David
A. Pine. Matthew F. MCGUIRE,
Alexander Holtzoff, Richmond B.
Keech and Edward NJ. Curran.
His court-appointed lawyers
through the years reads like a
Who's Who among Washington
criminal counsel.
: They included William H.
Collins. Emory Smith, Joseph
Lyman. Wesley Williams, Will
liam Tinney, George E. C. Hayes.
Charles E. Ford. James j.
Laughlin and Charles Horsky.
Finally declared sane. Jordan
went to trial for the attempted
robbery of Mrs. Chyatte with
the case declared a mistrial when
a Juror became Ill and failed to
appear.
A second trial brought him a
6-to-20-year sentence on Novem-
Der IL. 1853, to begin at the
expiration of an earlier 12-year
sentence imposed in the Fernan-
DEE robbery case conviction.
Meanwhile. Jail Supt. Curtis
Reid had informed the court
Jordan's earlier sentence with
time off for good behavior had
expired on october 20, 1852. He
was to get credit for the time
served between that date and
November IL. 1858.
Attorney Laughlin made one
last attempt to help Jordan.
Coupling the many letters his
client had written demanding a !
speedy trial for the murder and
other remaining charges, he APP
peared before Judge Laws in
June, 1854. His oral motion that
they be dismissed for lack of
prosecution was granted.
Search Found LOophole
With thanks of the court for
his year of work without COM
pensation he was discharged. +
Things looked dark for Jor-
dan. but he didn't give up hope.
He kept mulling over his copy
Of the attempt robbery indict-
ment and his 20-year sentence. /
In it he found the key that fitted
She lock to his prison gate.
Every guardhouse lawyer
knows the limit for attempted
robbery is IS years.
Judge Tamm had given Jor-
dan Is years for the robbery at
tempt and an additional five
years for using a gun.
What Jordan saw was a fatal
IGRAEI