Missouri Laws 532.550 – Person discharged cannot be again imprisoned — exceptions
No person who has been discharged, by the order of any court or associate circuit judge, upon a writ of habeas corpus issued pursuant to this chapter, shall be again imprisoned, restrained or kept in custody for the same cause; but it shall not be deemed the same cause:
(1) If he shall have been discharged from a commitment on a criminal charge, and be afterward committed for the same offense by the legal order or process of the court wherein he shall be bound by a recognizance to appear, or in which he shall be indicted or convicted for the same offense; or
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 532.550
- Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
(2) If, after a discharge for defect of proof, or for any material defect in the commitment in a criminal case, the prisoner may again be arrested on sufficient proof, and committed by legal process for the same offense; or
(3) When the discharge in any case has been ordered on account of the nonobservance of any of the forms required by law, and the party is again arrested for imprisonment, by legal process, for sufficient cause, and according to the forms required by law.