Carpenter v. Jamerson

432 N.E.2d 177, 69 Ohio St. 2d 308, 23 Ohio Op. 3d 290, 1982 Ohio LEXIS 576
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 19, 1982
DocketNo. 81-517
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 432 N.E.2d 177 (Carpenter v. Jamerson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carpenter v. Jamerson, 432 N.E.2d 177, 69 Ohio St. 2d 308, 23 Ohio Op. 3d 290, 1982 Ohio LEXIS 576 (Ohio 1982).

Opinions

Krupansky, J.

The issue presented is whether the trial court in considering petitioner’s writ of habeas corpus complied fully with all constitutional, statutory and case law requirements imposed by Ohio and federal law. We conclude the procedures followed were proper, and therefore, the judgment of the Court of Appeals affirming the trial court’s denial of petitioner’s writ of habeas corpus is affirmed.

Petitioner’s major contentions are threefold: (I) the habeas corpus hearing afforded the petitioner pursuant to R. C. 2963.09 was not a full and meaningful hearing as required by due process; (II) the petitioner is not a “fugitive from justice” as contemplated by the extradition statutes since he was affirmatively advised by Georgia authorities to leave the state for his own safety; and (III) it was against the manifest weight of the evidence and error for the trial court to deny the petitioner’s writ of habeas corpus because the evidence presented at the hearing was uncontroverted and fully supportive of petitioner’s position that he is not a fugitive from justice. Following is a discussion of these three assertions.

I.

R. C. 2963.09 provides for a procedure whereby an individual arrested in order to be extradited may test the legality of that arrest through a habeas corpus hearing. The scope of this hearing is very limited and well-defined by case law. Michigan v. Doran (1978), 439 U. S. 282, 289, and In re Harris (1959), 170 Ohio St. 151, together delineate the permissible extent of these hearings, which are limited to the following five determinations: (1) whether the petitioner has been charged with an offense under the laws of the state demanding extradition; (2) whether the petitioner is the individual named in the extradition request; (3) whether the peti[311]*311tioner is a fugitive; (4) whether the extradition is not for the purpose of enforcing any civil liability; and (5) whether the extradition documents on their face are in order.

The courts of our nation have repeatedly emphasized the abbreviated nature of extradition proceedings held in an asylum state. In Doran, supra, at page 288, the United States Supreme Court stated:

“Interstate extradition was intended to be a summary and mandatory executive proceeding derived from the language of Art. IV, §2, cl. 2, of the constitution. * * * The clause never contemplated that the asylum state was to conduct the kind of preliminary inquiry traditionally intervening between the initial arrest and trial.”

Likewise, as this court stated in Wilcox v. Nolze (1878), 34 Ohio St. 520, at pages 523-524:

“The governor of a state, in issuing his warrant of extradition of a fugitive from justice, acts in an executive, and not in a judicial capacity. He is not permitted to try the question whether the accused is guilty or not guilty; he is not to regard a departure from the prescribed forms for making the application, or as to the manner of charging the crime, in any manner not of the substance; and he is not to be controlled by the question whether the offense is or is not a crime in his own state, the inquiry being whether the act is punishable as a crime in the demanding state..Nor have the courts larger powers, in any of these respects, than the governor. * * * ”

In State, ex rel. Toht, v. McClure (1950), 87 Ohio App. 520, the Montgomery County Court of Appeals determined, in a proceeding in habeas corpus, instituted by a fugitive from justice who is being held in this state on a warrant of extradition of a governor of a sister state, an Ohio court has no power to consider whether the constitutional rights of the petitioner are likely to be violated if he is returned to the sister state.

In order to satisfy petitioner’s view of a hearing complying with due process the courts of Ohio would in essence be required to ignore the above and similar holdings and conduct a full-fledged trial to determine the validity of the charges lodged by the state of Georgia prior to allowing the petitioner’s extradition. Clearly, the applicable statutes and case law do not provide for such a burdensome hearing in the asylum [312]*312state. Indeed, R. C. 2963.18 explicitly mandates otherwise in its statement:

“The guilt or innocence of an accused as to the crime of which he is charged may not be inquired into by the governor or in any proceeding after a demand for extradition accompanied by a charge of crime under section 2963.03 of the Revised Code has been presented by the governor * * *.”

Taking account of the relevant evidence it is apparent the first two determinations to be made according to Doran and Harris may be quickly resolved, i.e., (1) petitioner admitted he has been charged with an offense under the laws of Georgia; and (2) petitioner also admitted he is the individual named in the extradition request — e.g., from petitioner’s testimony he does not focus on denial of either of the above two propositions, but rather, the thrust of petitioner’s case is that he left the state of Georgia with consent.

After reviewing the pertinent authority and the scope of inquiry of the habeas corpus hearing at issue, we conclude the habeas corpus proceeding in the instant action fully complies with the requirements of due process.

II.

Clause 2, Section 2 of Article IV of the United States Constitution provides:

“A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.”

Section 3182, Title 18, U. S. Code, implements this clause of the Constitution and prescribes the procedure to be followed “[wjhenever the executive authority of any State or Territory demands any person as a fugitive from justice.* * * ” (Emphasis added.) The petitioner asserts he is not amenable to extradition as a “fugitive from justice” since he “did not leave the state of Georgia after committing a crime for which he would be prosecuted, did not conceal his whereabouts from the Georgia authorities [and] was affirmatively advised to leave the state by those of whom he had a duty to obey * * *.” In reaching this conclusion the petitioner primarily relies upon dictionary definitions characterizing a “fugitive” as one who [313]*313flees or conceals himself in an attempt to escape prosecution. As will be shown below, these definitions are too narrow to be effectively used herein.

The Court of Appeals in Hughes v. Pflanz (C. A. 6, 1905), 138 F. 980, affirmed the dismissal of a writ of habeas corpus filed by a petitioner being extradited for allegedly violating the terms of his parole agreement. In Hughes the court, at page 983, stated:

“The term ‘charged with crime,’ as used in the Constitution and statute, seems to us to have been used in its broad sense, and to include all persons accused of crime.* * * The object of the provisions of the Constitution and statute is to prevent the escape of persons charged with crime, whether convicted or unconvicted, and to secure their return and punishment if guilty.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re Lamont
2013 Ohio 3199 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2013)
McKinney v. Vore, Unpublished Decision (3-2-2006)
2006 Ohio 1123 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2006)
McKinney v. Vore, Unpublished Decision (2-22-2006)
2006 Ohio 1122 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2006)
Betschart v. Spinden
20 P.3d 202 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2001)
Reed v. State Ex Rel. Ortiz
1997 NMSC 055 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1997)
People ex rel. Schank v. Gerace
231 A.D.2d 380 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1997)
Hanson v. Smith
587 N.E.2d 345 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1990)
In Re Extradition of Adams
579 N.E.2d 752 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1989)
In Re Habeas Corpus for Terry
554 N.E.2d 1365 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1988)
State v. Barone
487 N.E.2d 1157 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1984)
State, Ex Rel. Gilpin v. Stokes
483 N.E.2d 179 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1984)
David Whitney Chamberlain v. Richard F. Celeste
729 F.2d 1071 (Sixth Circuit, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
432 N.E.2d 177, 69 Ohio St. 2d 308, 23 Ohio Op. 3d 290, 1982 Ohio LEXIS 576, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carpenter-v-jamerson-ohio-1982.