Title: Ex Parte Puckitt
Citation: 322 S.W.2d 597
Docket Number: A-7218
State: Texas
Issuer: Texas Supreme Court
Date: April 8, 1959

322 S.W.2d 597 (1959) Ex parte Jeff K. PUCKITT. No. A-7218. Supreme Court of Texas. April 8, 1959. W. T. Briggs, Port Arthur, for relator. GREENHILL, Justice. This is an original proceeding in this Court in which Jeff K. Puckitt sought and was granted a writ of habeas corpus. Pending a hearing in a divorce suit, Puckitt was ordered by the district court to make monthly payments to his wife. Upon her allegations that he was delinquent in his payments, Puckitt was called before the court. The learned trial judge found him to be in arrears and to be in contempt of court. Apparently upon the oral direction of the judge, Puckitt was put in jail by the sheriff until he purged himself of the contempt. No written order of any kind appears in the record. This Court has held that as a matter of due process, a person may not be imprisoned for contempt without a written judgment of contempt and a written order of commitment. Ex parte Smart, 1953, 152 Tex. 229, 256 S.W.2d 398; Ex parte Palmateer, 1951, 150 Tex. 510, 243 S.W.2d 160. This Court held in Ex parte Arapis, Tex. 1957, 306 S.W.2d 884, 886: Upon the authority of the above holdings, the Relator Jeff K. Puckitt is discharged.