People Ex Rel. Shapiro v. Keeper of City Prison

There are here presented questions of importance concerning the right of a citizen to bail before trial and the power of a court, on the return of a writ of habeas corpus, to review the prior denial of bail by another court of coordinate jurisdiction.

One Jacob Shapiro (brother of the relator) stands charged, by two indictments (forty seven counts), with having committed various acts of extortion, involving large sums of money. These indictments were found in 1937 and 1940 but Jacob Shapiro was not arraigned thereon until 1942. On his arraignment in the Court of General Sessions, he asked that…