Commonwealth ex rel. Garrett v. Botula

37 Pa. D. & C.2d 646, 1965 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 301
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County
DecidedJanuary 28, 1965
Docketno. 1424
StatusPublished

This text of 37 Pa. D. & C.2d 646 (Commonwealth ex rel. Garrett v. Botula) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth ex rel. Garrett v. Botula, 37 Pa. D. & C.2d 646, 1965 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 301 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1965).

Opinion

Ellenbogen, P. J.,

This case comes before the court as a complaint in the form of a letter by Lavalle Garrett. Because of the nature of the complaint, we treated it as an application for a writ of habeas corpus and ordered it filed as such.

The conviction of relator on a charge of vagrancy and his commitment to the Allegheny County Workhouse for a term of six months on the record before the magistrate of the City of Pittsburgh, Pa., raises the question of the constitutionality of the Vagrancy Act of May 8, 1876, P. L. 154, 18 PS §2032, as interpreted and applied by the city magistrate.

We hold that certain provisions of section 2 of the Act of 1876, are unconstitutional and the conviction and commitment of Lavalle Garrett in the case before us violated the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution and article 1, sec. 9, of the Constitution of Pennsylvania.

Statement of Facts

Lavalle Garrett, relator, was arrested by police officers of the City of Pittsburgh, on September 18, 1964, at 5:30 a.m., at the corner of Center Avenue and Roberts Street, located within the City of Pittsburgh, without a warrant of arrest. He was charged with larceny of $30 from one Anthony Chariott. In the course of the proceeding, the charge of vagrancy was added.

Garrett was given a hearing before the Hon. Harry B. Fitzgerald, police magistrate of the City of Pittsburgh, on September 18, 1964, the day of his arrest. When the prosecuting witness refused to press the charge of larceny, that charge was dismissed, and the case was then proceeded with on the charge of vagrancy. Mr. Fitzgerald testified at the hearing before us that defendant at the police hearing when ques[648]*648tioned by him “gave no address, no permanent address, no visible means of income”.

It is difficult from the evidence which was given at hearing before us to determine exactly what transpired at the hearing before Magistrate Fitzgerald. However, we are certain of the following facts as they relate to Lavalle Garrett:

1. Lavalle Garrett lives in the City of Pittsburgh and has lived in the City of Pittsburgh for many years. He is a permanent resident of the City of Pittsburgh.

2. Garrett is not on relief and had some money on his person when arrested.

3. Garrett has no employment.

4. The charge of larceny was dismissed for lack of evidence and Garrett was adjudged guilty of vagrancy and committed on that charge to the Allegheny County Workhouse for the maximum term of six months permitted by the statute.

Discussion

Vagrancy is defined in and made punishable by the Act of May 8, 1876, P. L. 154, 18 PS §2032, et seq. The Act of 1876 specifically defines vagrants as follows:

I. Nonresidents who “unlawfully return”.

II. All persons who beg or gather alms by “going about from door to door or placing themselves in streets, highways or other roads” for the purpose of begging or gathering alms and “who have no fixed place of residence”.

III. Persons who come to this Commonwealth from without and who “shall be found loitering or residing therein” and who have “no trade, occupation” or visible means of support.

A fourth provision covering all persons who refuse to perform work allotted to them by the overseers of the poor has since been repealed in effect.

It appears from the foregoing summary of the Act of 1876 that, in order to be a vagrant, defendant must be a nonresident, beggar or loiterer.

[649]*649None of these essential requirements apply to Lavalle Garrett. Garrett was neither a beggar nor a nonresident.

It appears that Lavalle Garrett was convicted as a vagrant because of the belief of Magistrate Fitzgerald that “he plies the street every night with women’s clothes on and wigs, enticing men to come up on the hill for the purpose of looking for prostitutes. He operates as a male prostitute”. Such conduct does not constitute vagrancy.

The city has raised the following questions:

1. The fact that relator did not come from without this Commonwealth but is a permanent resident of Pittsburgh and that no evidence was adduced at the hearing before the magistrate that he was a nonresident cannot properly be raised in a proceeding for writ of habeas corpus. The city contends that this would be a review of the sufficiency of the evidence which is improper under Commonwealth ex rel. Jones v. Day, 181 Pa. Superior Ct. 37 (1956), and Thomas v. Myers, 200 Pa. Superior Ct. 452 (1963). In the view of the city, the issue of nonresidency could only be raised on appeal.

2. Although relator was not arrested for vagrancy, the charge of vagrancy may be added by the magistrate.

3. The Act of May 8, 1876, P.L. 154, defining vagrancy, is sufficiently definite as to be constitutional.

4. The magistrate may convict on vagrancy on the basis of “acts known to the magistrate”.

5. The fact that Garrett was not informed of his right to counsel and was not permitted to make telephone calls after his arrest and before his hearing does not render the proceeding invalid.

6. The lack of a formal information or complaint charging relator with the offense involved does not affect the validity of the proceeding.

[650]*650We shall deal with each of these contentions, and in connection therewith shall discuss the facts of this case and the statute and constitutional provisions bearing thereon.

First: The contention of the City of Pittsburgh that the writ of habeas corpus is not a substitute for appeal is, of course, true; but this case goes far beyond a review of the sufficiency of the evidence before the magistrate. It is clear to us beyond any doubt, that there was a total absence of evidence. In other words, there was no evidence whatever under which Lavalle Garrett, relator, could be convicted of vagrancy.

The refusal of the police officers to let him make telephone calls, and an immediate hearing without counsel, and a conviction of relator based not on sworn testimony but on the opinion or “view of the magistrate,” is clearly a violation of the basic constitutional rights of petitioner under the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of Pennsylvania and the fourteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution, as will be shown hereafter.

Second: It is, of course, true that a charge of vagrancy may be combined with a charge of larceny, but it is not the law that when a charge of larceny fails, the magistrate may convict of vagrancy. Vagrancy is not a constituent element of larceny and evidence relating to larceny cannot support a conviction for vagrancy. Furthermore, a charge of vagrancy cannot be added in the midst of a hearing. Defendant must be formally charged and advised of the nature of the charge: Commonwealth v. Borden, 61 Pa. 272 (1869).

The hearing of this case has created an impression with us that the hearings on summary convictions before a police magistrate are at times rather loose and informal. Since a hearing on a summary charge may entail a rather substantial prison sentence, such as the sentence of six months in the workhouse which was meted out here, we feel it important to point out that [651]

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37 Pa. D. & C.2d 646, 1965 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-ex-rel-garrett-v-botula-pactcomplallegh-1965.