Commonwealth ex rel. O'Donnell v. Prasse

84 Pa. D. & C. 306, 1952 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 35
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County
DecidedOctober 30, 1952
Docketno. 340
StatusPublished

This text of 84 Pa. D. & C. 306 (Commonwealth ex rel. O'Donnell v. Prasse) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland 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. O'Donnell v. Prasse, 84 Pa. D. & C. 306, 1952 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 35 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1952).

Opinion

Sheely, P. J.

(forty-first judicial district, specially

presiding),

This is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus alleging that John David Johnson O’Donnell is “unjustly held and detained in custody by Arthur T. Prasse, Superintendent of the Pennsylvania Industrial School at Camp Hill” and that petitioner “was not committed for any criminal or supposed criminal matter.” A rule was issued to show cause why a writ of habeas corpus should not issue, and answers were filed thereto by the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the District Attorney of Cumberland County, and the District Attorney of Luzerne County.

The answers of the Attorney General and the District Attorney of Cumberland County challenge the jurisdiction of this court to review, on habeas corpus, the action of the Juvenile Court of Luzerne County which committed petitioner to the Pennsylvania Industrial School. It is contended that since section 2 of the Juvenile Court Act of June 2, 1933, P. L. 1433, 11 PS §244, provides that the juvenile court “shall have and possess full and exclusive jurisdiction in (a) all pro[308]*308ceedings affecting delinquent, neglected and dependent children; . . . ,” a court of common pleas cannot issue a writ of habeas corpus where a juvenile has been committed by the juvenile court.

It is undoubtedly true that the juvenile court has exclusive jurisdiction in the first instance in all proceedings affecting or concerning delinquent, neglected and dependent children, and that where the jurisdiction of the juvenile court has attached and the powers of the court been exercised, all matters concerning the welfare of the child are for that court. Jurisdiction to determine what is for the best interest of the child cannot be transferred to the court of common pleas under a habeas corpus proceedings: Ciammaichella Appeal, 169 Pa. Superior Ct. 240, 242 (1951) ; Commonwealth ex rel. v. Whitehill et ux., 67 D. & C. 148 (1948) ; Commonwealth ex rel. v. Briggs, etc., 68 Pitts. L. J. 141 (1919) ; Commonwealth of Penna. ex rel. v. Black et al., 68 Pitts. L.J. 755 (1920). Likewise, a petition for a writ of habeas corpus cannot be made a substitute for an appeal either in a criminal proceeding or in a juvenile proceeding: Commonwealth ex rel. McGlinn v. Smith, Warden, 344 Pa. 41, 47 (1952) ; Commonwealth ex rel. Schultz v. Smith, 139 Pa. Superior Ct. 357 (1939). But, as pointed out in the Schultz case, there are certain basic and fundamental errors in criminal proceedings which may be corrected on habeas corpus, such as an erroneous and illegal sentence; an excessive sentence; a lumping sentence; a double sentence for the same offense; a minor offense swallowed up in a greater; and a sentence increased after the term. To this list might be added other situations which are illustrated in the cases.

Was it the intention of the legislature, by providing that the juvenile court should have full and exclusive • jurisdiction in all proceedings affecting delinquent, [309]*309neglected and dependent children, to take away from the court of common pleas of a county in which a juvenile might be detained, the power to inquire into the legality of such detention by a writ of habeas corpus? We do not think so. The right to a writ of habeas corpus is a most important right and is recognized in article I, sec. 14, of the Constitution of Pennsylvania. Consequently a person may not be wholly deprived of the right to the writ, or the right be so hampered as to amount to a practical deprivation: Commonwealth ex rel. Greevy v. Reifsteck, 271 Pa. 441, 445 (1921). What was intended by the quoted portion of the Juvenile Court Act was that all proceedings having to do with the determination of whether or not a juvenile is delinquent, dependent, or neglected, and the disposition to make of his case for the promotion of his welfare, are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the juvenile court. There is nothing in the act, however, to indicate that the time honored writ of habeas corpus could not be issued by the court of common pleas to determine the legality of the detention of a juvenile, under the usual rules applicable to a writ of habeas corpus.

The questions which may be considered on the writ of habeas corpus however, are limited. In Commonwealth ex rel. McGlinn v. Smith, Warden, 344 Pa. 41, 47 (1942), Mr. Chief Justice Maxey pointed out that there are certain long-established principles by which courts are guided. “ ‘The writ of habeas corpus can never be used as a substitute for an appeal’. . . . ‘The regularity of proceedings is not to be attacked in this way’. . . . ‘The writ of habeas corpus should be allowed only when the court or judge is satisfied that the “party hath probable cause to be delivered” ’. . . . ‘A judgment cannot be lightly set aside by collateral attack even on habeas corpus. When collaterally attacked, the [310]*310judgment of a court carries with it a presumption of regularity’. . . . The remedy of habeas corpus being an extraordinary one, it can be successfully invoked only in exceptional cases, where there is a ‘peculiar and pressing need for it’.”

In connection with the last principle the court quoted from Goto v. Lane et al., 265 U. S. 393, 401:

• “ ‘The remedy is an extraordinary one, out of the usual course, and involves a collateral attack on the process or judgment constituting the basis of the detention. The instances in which it is granted, when the law had provided another remedy in regular course, are exceptional and usually confined to situations where there is peculiar and pressing need for it or where the process or judgment under which the prisoner is held is wholly void.’ . . .”

Petitioner in the present case contends that there was no charge preferred against him; that there was no hearing at which any charge was preferred against him; that at the time he was brought to the juvenile court it was stated that he was not being committed to Kis-Lyn; and, there being no charge preferred as indicated by the Act of June 18, 1939, P. L. 394, par. 1, 11 PS §243, the whole proceedings resulting in the confinement of petitioner are illegal and void. If it were true that no petition had been filed as required by the Juvenile Court Act and that there had been no hearing thereon, the court would have been without jurisdiction to commit petitioner: Rose Child Dependency Case, 161 Pa. Superior Ct. 204 (1947). But the record shows that these allegations are incorrect. A petition was filed alleging that Jack Johnson, alias O’Donnell, a child under 18 years of age, was delinquent and in need of care and protection. It is true that the word “delinquent” was abbreviated to “del.” and that the petition alleged that the child was “in need of the care [311]*311and protection of the court” instead of alleging, in the words of the statute that the child was “in need of care, guidance and control,” but we regard these deviations as immaterial. The petition was sufficient to inform petitioner and anyone interested in his case that he was being brought into court, as a delinquent. There is no requirement that the petition allege the evidence by which the allegation of delinquency was to be proved.

Petitioner refers to “charges” being “preferred” against petitioner as though this were a criminal case. This phraseology completely overlooks the basic concept of the juvenile court. As stated in Commonwealth v. Fisher, 213 Pa. 48, 50 (1905) : “. . .

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Related

Goto v. Lane
265 U.S. 393 (Supreme Court, 1924)
Commonwealth Ex Rel. Ross v. Egan
126 A. 488 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1924)
Commonwealth Ex Rel. McGlinn v. Smith
24 A.2d 1 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1942)
Trignani's Case
24 A.2d 743 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1941)
Rose Child Dependency Case
54 A.2d 297 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1947)
Com. Ex Rel. Schultz v. Smith, Warden.
11 A.2d 656 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1939)
Commonwealth v. Carnes
82 Pa. Super. 335 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1923)
Commonwealth v. Fisher
62 A. 198 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1905)
Commonwealth ex rel. Greevy v. Reifsteck
115 A. 130 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1921)
Commonwealth ex rel. Kaylor v. Ashe
74 A.2d 769 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1950)
Ciammaichella Appeal
82 A.2d 560 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1951)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
84 Pa. D. & C. 306, 1952 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 35, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-ex-rel-odonnell-v-prasse-pactcomplcumber-1952.