Ex parte Birdseye

244 F. 972, 1917 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1105
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 16, 1917
DocketNo. 119
StatusPublished

This text of 244 F. 972 (Ex parte Birdseye) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ex parte Birdseye, 244 F. 972, 1917 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1105 (S.D.N.Y. 1917).

Opinion

MANTON, District Judge.

[1] This relator is charged with the crime of conspiracy by an indictment filed in the county of Allegheny, state of Pennsylvania. He contests the right of extradition by Pennsylvania on the ground that various counts of the indictment and the indictment as a whole do not charge a crime against him. The Governor of the state of New York has issued his warrant against this relator and his fellow defendants. He may contest this right through the medium of a writ of habeas corpus, assailing the legality of his detention under the executive warrant. Article 4, § 2, of the federal Constitution provides:

[973]*973“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.”

Under this provision an alleged fugitive can be delivered up only: First, if he is charged in one state with treason, felony, or other crime; and, second, he has fled from justice; and, third, that the demand for his delivery to the state wherein he is charged with the crime is made. If either of these conditions is absent, the Constitution affords no warrant for the restraint of the liberty of any person. Pierce v. Creecy, 210 U. S. 387, 28 Sup. Ct. 714, 52 L. Ed. 1113; Roberts v. Reilly, 116 U. S. 80, 6 Sup. Ct. 291, 29 L. Ed. 544.

S'o the question here is whether this relator, who does not dispute having been in the demanding state, is sufficiently charged with crime by the information or indictment here presented by Pennsylvania; in other words, is the information or indictment sufficient in law as a criminal pleading? For it is obvious that such an objection, if well founded, would entitle the relator to his discharge for it would destroy its effect in charging a crime. Learned counsel for the relator urge that a charge of crime is not alleged sufficiently clear and comprehensive in this indictment so as to permit an intelligent defense, and a bar to a second prosecution. This right to be so charged, is accorded every defendant charged with crime. United States v. Greene (D. C.) 115 Fed. 343; United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 542, 23 L. Ed. 588.

[2] The indictment here consists of 11 counts. If one of these counts is sufficient to charge a crime, the relator must fail. Commonwealth v. Church, 17 Pa. Super. Ct. 39; Commonwealth v. Gouger, 21 Pa. Super. Ct. 217. The Pennsylvania statute alleged to have been violated by the relator is known as the act of March 31, 1860 (P. L. 413, § 128), and reads:

“If any two or more persons shall falsely and. maliciously conspire, and agree to cheat and defraud any person, or body corporate, of his or their moneys, goods, chattels, or other property, or to do any other dishonest, malicious and unlawful act, to the prejudice of another, they shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, and to undergo an imprisonment, by separate or solitary confinement at labor, or by simple imprisonment, not exceeding two years.”

And the act of March 31, 1860 (P. L. 433, § 11), further provides:

“Every indictment shall be deemed and adjudged sufficient and good in law which charges the crime substantially in the language of the Act of Assembly prohibiting the crime, and prescribing the punishment, if any such there be, or if at common law, so plainly that the nature of the offense charged may be easily understood by the jury. Every objection to any Indictment for any formal defeet, apparent on the face thereof, shall be taken by demurrer, or on motion to quash such indictment, before the jury shall be sworn, and not afterward; and every court, before whom any such objection shall be taken for any formal defect, may, if it be thought necessary, cause the indictment to be forthwith amended in such particular, by the clerk or other officer of the court, and thereupon the trial shall proceed as if no such defect appeared.”

[974]*974■ [3] Counsel for the relator have made a very serious attack upon this indictment. In a very learned brief they have reviewed the authorities at considerable length in the attempt to make good on this attack. But on this application, and particularly in view of the statutes above referred to, the court is called upon only to ascertain if the crime is substantially charged. The technical accuracy of the pleading must be left to the courts of the demanding state. Ex parte Reggel, 114 U. S. 642, 5 Sup. Ct. 1148, 29 L. Ed. 250; Drew v. Thaw, 235 U. S. 439, 35 Sup. Ct. 137, 59 L. Ed. 302; Pierce v. Creecy, 210 U. S. 387, 28 Sup. Ct. 714, 52 L. Ed. 1113; Munsey v. Clough, 196 U. S. 364, 25 Sup. Ct. 282, 49 L. Ed. 515. As was said by Justice Holmes in Drew v. Thaw, 235 U. S. 439, 35 Sup. Ct. 138, 59 L. Ed. 302:

“The most serious argument on behalf of Thaw is that, if be was insane when be contrived bis escape, be could not be guilty of .crime, while, if be was not insane, be was entitled to be discharged, and that bis confinement and other facts scattered through the record require us to assume that be was insane. But this is not Thaw’s trial. In extradition proceedings, even wBen as here a humane opportunity is afforded to test them upon habeas corpus, the purpose of the writ is not to substitute the judgment of another tribunal upon the facts or the law of the matter to be tried. The Constitution says nothing about habeas corpus in this connection, but peremptorily requires that upon proper demand the person charged shall be delivered up to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime (article 4, § 2). Pettibone v. Nichols, 203 U. S. 192, 205 [27 Sup. Ct. 111, 51 L. Ed. 148, 7 Ann. Cas. 1047], There is no discretion allowed; no inquiry into motives. Kentucky v. Dennison, 24 How. 66 [16 L. Ed. 717]; Pettibone v. Nichols, 203 U. S. 192, 203 [27 Sup. Ct. 111, 51 L. Ed. 148, 7 Ann. Cas. 1047]. The technical sufficiency of the indictment is not open. Munsey v. Clough, 196 U. S. 364, 373 [25 Sup. Ct. 282, 49 L. Ed. 515]. And even if it be true that the argument stated offers a nice question, it is a question as to the law of New York which the New York courts must decide.”

In Pierce v. Creecy, 210 U. S. at 401, 28 Sup. Ct. 718, 52 L. Ed. 1113, the court said:

“The counsel for the petitioner disclaim the purpose of attacking the indictment as a criminal pleading, appreciating correctly that the point here is not whether the indictment is good enough, over seasonable challenge, to bring the accused to the bar for trial. Counsel concede that they cannot successfully attack the indictment except by showing that it does not charge -a ■crime.

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Related

Commonwealth of Ky. v. DENNISON, GOVERNOR, &C.
65 U.S. 66 (Supreme Court, 1861)
United States v. Cruikshank
92 U.S. 542 (Supreme Court, 1876)
United States v. Carll
105 U.S. 611 (Supreme Court, 1882)
Ex Parte Reggel
114 U.S. 642 (Supreme Court, 1885)
Roberts v. Reilly
116 U.S. 80 (Supreme Court, 1885)
United States v. Hess
124 U.S. 483 (Supreme Court, 1888)
Munsey v. Clough
196 U.S. 364 (Supreme Court, 1905)
Matter of Strauss
197 U.S. 324 (Supreme Court, 1905)
Pettibone v. Nichols
203 U.S. 192 (Supreme Court, 1906)
Pierce v. Creecy
210 U.S. 387 (Supreme Court, 1908)
Drew v. Thaw
235 U.S. 432 (Supreme Court, 1914)
Commonwealth v. Superintendent of Philadelphia County Prison
69 A. 916 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1908)
Commonwealth v. Church
17 Pa. Super. 39 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1901)
Commonwealth v. Gouger
21 Pa. Super. 217 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1902)
United States v. Greene
115 F. 343 (S.D. Georgia, 1902)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
244 F. 972, 1917 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1105, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-birdseye-nysd-1917.