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an officer and detachment of men of the Army of the United States said to be acting under order from you and brought a prisoner to Richmond for the purpose of being again tried for the said offence [[strikethrough]]by[[/strikethrough]] by a Court Martial or Military commission as he has been informed — 'Upon these facts your petitioner asks that you will 'order his immediate discharge from custody for the following reasons to wit —

I  By the termination of the war and the Proclamation of the President of the United Stated Peace prevails in Virginia and Martial Law has ceased to exist.
[[?]]2 Blackstones Comm' 413.414 — 2 H R  Petits [[5]]8 
17. Repts 493. Hallams Court History 325-30. 531 and the execution of any ma[[n]] under sa[[?]] circums[[tances]] by a mil[[itary]] tribunal [[?]]

II  By the Constitution of the United States Art 3 Sec 2 paragraph 3 it is declared that [[strikethrough]]?[[/strikethrough]] "the trial of all crimes, except in the cases of impeachment shall be by Jury" — [[strikethrough]]By[[/strikethrough]]

III  By the Constitution Art 1 Sec 8 paragraph 10 the power of Congress over crimes, except treason as to "define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas and offences against the Law of Nations" and therefore it, and its Courts, have no jurisdiction to try felonies committed on the land

VIV  By the Fifth art of the amendments 
  

Transcription Notes:
Text runs off of right margin in middle of page. I double bracketed my best guess. I double checked the Constitutional citations to help decipher some of the handwriting for numbers. :) Especially in section II. What looks like "paragraph 0" at first glance is actually "paragraph 3" — which follows the writers stroke pattern.