Ex parte Wiley

Wiley was a prisoner in the southern state prison, at Jeffersonville, in Clark county, under a sentence for life by the Decatur Circuit Court on a trial and conviction of murder. He made application to the Decatur Circuit Court, in session, for a writ of habeas corpus to relieve him from imprisonment, on the ground that the judge who presided at his trial had no power or jurisdiction to hold the court or try him.

The Decatur Circuit Court refused the writ and dismissed the petition. Exception was taken, and appeal to this court.

The appellant’s attorneys have presented us with an able and…