Commonwealth v. Seip

5 Pa. D. & C.2d 577, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 233
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County
DecidedMay 23, 1955
Docketno. 615
StatusPublished

This text of 5 Pa. D. & C.2d 577 (Commonwealth v. Seip) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Seip, 5 Pa. D. & C.2d 577, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 233 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1955).

Opinion

Neely, J.,

In this habeas corpus proceeding, the relator, Etter N. Houser, contests the validity of an extradition warrant issued by the Governor of Pennsylvania ordering his surrender to the authorities of the State of New Jersey to answer a criminal charge of willful neglect. The Governor’s warrant was served upon the relator in the Dauphin County Prison where he is serving a sentence at no. 18, September sessions, Oyer and Terminer, 1954, on a conviction of burglary in this court.1 The court had ordered that the relator-defendant be paroled effective April 25, 1955. This parole was revoked on that date because of the pending extradition proceeding.

The accused-relator was brought before the court on April 25, 1955, and was informed of the demand for his extradition made by the State of New Jersey on the charge of willful neglect and of his right to counsel. He at that time informed the court of his desire to present a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In order to give him a full opportunity to assert his rights, we fixed an additional hearing for May 9, 1955, and advised the accused that in the meantime [579]*579he was entitled to present his petition and that the court would expect the petition to he filed on or before the date for the continued hearing. The petition was filed on May 7, 1955, in propria persona and the continued hearing was held on the date fixed.

The requisition papers from the demanding State are in order, as they are required to be: Commonwealth ex rel. v. Baldi, 372 Pa. 463, 466 (1953); and charge the defendant in Camden County, N. J., with the willful neglect of his two minor children, Florence and John Houser, in destitute and necessitous circumstances.

The right of the accused to challenge the validity of the extradition proceedings by habeas corpus is expressly accorded him by sec. 10 of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act of July 8, 1941, P. L. 288, 19 PS §191.10. “That right has been always recognized by our courts”: Commonwealth ex rel. v. Heinz, 141 Pa. Superior Ct. 158, 160 (1940). See also Commonwealth ex rel. v. Hare, 36 Pa. Superior Ct. 125 (1908); Commonwealth ex rel. v. Philadelphia Prison Superintendent, 162 Pa. Superior Ct. 459, 460 (1948); Commonwealth ex rel. v. Dye, 373 Pa. 508 (1953).

In Commonwealth ex rel. v. Heinz, supra, at page 162, the Superior Court said:

“The governor’s warrant is presumptive, but not conclusive evidence of every fact essential to its validity, as the facts may by competent evidence be shown to be false. It may be attacked as void on its face or by establishing that the jurisdictional facts necessary to its issuance do not exist. . . . Whether the accused is charged on the face of the extradition papers with the crime is a jurisdictional question which is open to judicial inquiry and review: 22 Am. Jur., Extradition, §54.

“If the accused successfully contradicts jurisdictional facts, he is entitled to discharge from custody.”

[580]*580On the face of the extradition papers, the accused-relator is clearly charged here with the commission in New Jersey of the crime of willful neglect of his two children. The accused contests the jurisdictional facts, and our question is whether he has done so successfully and is entitled to have the court sustain his petition for a writ of habeas corpus and order his discharge in the extradition proceedings.

Mary Houser, the wife of the accused, testified that her husband abandoned her in Baltimore, Md., when her child Florence was four months old. She moved to New Jersey and her son John was born there. She testified that both are the children of the relator. According to the testimony, the relator never lived in New Jersey. However, the relator himself said that he had been in New Jersey on “numerous occasions” and visited the prosecutor’s office in Camden.

The general rule, of course, under the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act of 1941 is that in order to sustain the requisition of another State for extradition from Pennsylvania of a fugitive from justice, it is necessary that the subject of extradition (a) is charged with the commission of a crime in the demanding State; (b) was present in the demanding State at the time of the commission of the crime charged; (c) is a fugitive from the demanding State, and (d) it must be shown also that the requisition papers are in order: Commonwealth ex rel. v. Baldi, supra. These requirements are imposed under section 3, 19 PS §191.3, of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act. The requirements are to some extent modified by the provisions of section 6 of that Act, 19 PS §191.6, which section relates to extradition of persons not present in the demanding State at the time of the commission of the crime and who have not actually fled therefrom.

[581]*581However, neither section 3 nor section 6 of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act of 1941 applies in this case. The applicable statute here is the Uniform Enforcement of Support Law, Act of May 10, 1951, P. L. 279, as amended, 62 PS §2043.1. Whether the accused can be extradited in this case depends upon the meaning of that law and its application in the instant case.

The Act of 1951 relating to .criminal nonsupport makes two important departures from the Uniform Criminal Extradition Law, in that it is not necessary under the Act of 1951 to show (a), that the accused was in the demanding State at the time of the commission of the crime, or (b) that he has fled therefrom. It remains, of course, necessary under the Act of 1951 to show the commission of the crime of nonsupport in the demanding State.

The Pennsylvania Act of 1951 provides that the duties of support which are enforceable under that statute are those imposed by another “State ... in which this or a substantially similar reciprocal law has been enacted”: 62 PS §2043.2. We can take judicial notice that New Jersey has adopted the Uniform Enforcement of Support Law (which was sponsored by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Laws and by the American Bar Association) in substantially the same form as adopted in Pennsylvania (see Uniform Laws Annotated, 9A Pkt. Parts, page 66 et seq.); as we can also take note of those statutes enacted in the State of New Jersey that are pertinent to the disposition of this case. See Uniform Judicial Notice of Foreign Law, Act of May 4, 1939, P. L. 42, 28 PS §291.

The Uniform Enforcement of Support Law, as adopted in Pennsylvania, in article II provides for criminal enforcement by extradition, and in article III makes provision for civil enforcement of the husband’s duty to support. In Commonwealth v. Shaffer, [582]*582175 Pa. Superior Ct. 100 (1954), the Superior Court discusses the provisions of the Act of 1951. As to civil support, the court in its opinion by Judge Hirt said at page 108:

“. . . The Civil Enforcement section of the Pennsylvania Act comprehends within its purview, proceedings for support as though brought under §733 of the Act of June 24, 1939, supra, 18 PS §4733, which in substance is a reenactment of the Act of April 13, 1867, P. L. 78. This is the common procedure in the quarter sessions for enforcing the duty of support. Such action is essentially a civil proceeding although brought under the sanction of the Criminal Code.

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

Related

Commonwealth v. Shaffer
103 A.2d 430 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1954)
Commonwealth Ex Rel. Mills v. Baldi
166 Pa. Super. 321 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1950)
Commonwealth Ex Rel. Henderson v. Baldi
93 A.2d 458 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1953)
Commonwealth Ex Rel. Accobacco v. Burke
60 A.2d 426 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1948)
Commonwealth Ex Rel. Katz v. Philadelphia Prison Superintendent
58 A.2d 366 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1948)
Com. Ex Rel. Binney v. Binney
22 A.2d 598 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1941)
Commonwealth v. Shankel
19 A.2d 493 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1940)
Commonwealth Ex Rel. Mattox v. Superintendent of County Prison
31 A.2d 576 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1943)
Commonwealth Ex Rel. Spivak v. Heinz
18 A.2d 875 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1940)
Commonwealth ex rel. Huey v. Dye
96 A.2d 129 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1953)
Commonwealth v. Hare
36 Pa. Super. 125 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1908)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
5 Pa. D. & C.2d 577, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 233, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-seip-pactcompldauphi-1955.