State Ex Rel. Strauser v. Jameson

This is an appeal from a judgment of the trial court in a proceeding in habeas corpus remanding the petitioner above named to the custody of the warden of the penitentiary by whom he is held under a judgment sentencing him to life imprisonment for kidnaping. The contention of petitioner is that SDC Supp. 13.2701-1 under which his conviction was had is unconstitutional and void.

A chronological development of the background of the contention of petitioner will place the issue in focus.

Originally the crime of kidnaping was defined in words as follows: “Whoever shall knowlingly and unlawfully…