In re Bell

75 N.E.2d 186, 49 Ohio Law. Abs. 405, 1947 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 206
CourtSummit County Court of Common Pleas
DecidedSeptember 27, 1947
DocketNo. 160445
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 75 N.E.2d 186 (In re Bell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Summit County Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Bell, 75 N.E.2d 186, 49 Ohio Law. Abs. 405, 1947 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 206 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1947).

Opinion

OPINION

By EMMONS, J.

This cause came on to be heard upon a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and the Agreed Statement of Facts is as follows:

“1. On October 9th, 1946, said Forest Edward Bell was indicted in Summit County, Ohio, by the grand jury of said Summit County for nonsupport of his minor children.

“2. On the same date as aforesaid a capias was issued to the Sheriff of said Summit County.

“3. On October 29, 1946, said Bell was returned to Ohio from Arizona, having waived extradition proceedings, and was held in jail in Summit County to await trial on said indictment for nonsupport.

[407]*407“4. On November 6th, 1946, defendant Bell was released on bond fixed by Common Pleas Court (of Summit County, to await trial on his said indictment.

“5. On said November 6th said Bell was arrested on a warrant issuing out of the Municipal Court of Akron, and was immediately released on bond. This warrant had been sworn out by a Deputy Sheriff of Summit County at instance of Oregon.

“6. On January 6, 1947, defendant appeared in said Common Pleas Court of Summit County, changed his former plea of ‘not guilty’ to said indictment charging nonsupport and entered a plea of guilty thereto.

“7. On the same last-mentioned date, and while the warrant of arrest issued by the Municipal Court at the request of Oregon was yet undisposed of, upon said plea of guilty to said indictment for nonsupport, the said Judge Emmons of said Common Pleas signed and approved a journal entry, and the same was entered in said cause in part as follows:

“ ‘Thereupon, it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the character of the defendant and the circumstances of the case are such that it is not likely that he will again engage in an offensive course of conduct, and that the public good does not demand nor require that he immediately be sentenced, it is ordered that imposition of sentence be, and the same hereby is suspended, and the defendant placed on probation for a period of five (5) years, upon the following terms and conditions, to-wit:

“ ‘That said defendant pay the costs of this prosecution within thirty (30) days; that he report to the Probation Department once every three (3) months; that he stay within the jurisdiction of this court at all times; that he refrain from offensive conduct of every nature and obey generally the laws of the State of Ohio and the ordinances of thb municipality within which he resides. '

“EMMONS, J.

“ ‘Approved January 6,1947. Gilbert A. Harts, Asst. Prosecuting Attorney.’ ”

“8. On January 27, 1947, upon the requisition of the Governor of Oregon, the Governor of Ohio .issued his warrant for the extradiction of Mr. Bell, by the force and operation whereof he is now holden and detained of his liberty pending the judgment of this court upon his application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus.”

Under the statutes which regulate extradition proceedings neither the governor nor the examining judge passes upon the [408]*408ultimate guilt of the accused but, among other things, he passes upon the question as to whether or not an offense is charged under the laws of the state demanding extradition; whether or not the identity of the party charged is established; whether or not the party charged is a fugitive from justice and that the extradition of the accused is not for the purpose of enforcing any civil liability against him. Howevér, in this instance the petitioner is on a five year probation period ordered by this Court upon his plea of guilty to an indictment of nonsupport of minor children.

In Carpenter v Lord, 88 Oregon page 128, the Court held that section 1874 L. O. L., which provided:

“ ‘When the person demanded is in custody in this state, •either upon a criminal charge, an indictment for a crime, or a .judgment upon a conviction thereof, he cannot be delivered up until he is legally discharged from custody’ was mandatory and completely removed any discretion which the executive might otherwise exercise in such a case, and applied in cases where the person demanded had been convicted and was on parole, for the reason that a convicted person on parole under a judgment is in custody within the meaning of said section.”

Some time after the Carpenter case the Oregon legislature amended this section and it became section 13-2605 Oregon Code 1930:

“When the person demanded is in custody in this state, either upon a criminal charge, an indictment for a crime, or a judgment upon a conviction thereof, he cannot be delivered up until he is legally discharged from such custody; but if he be in custody upon civil process only, the governor may deliver him up or not before the termination of such custody as he may deem most conducive to the public good; provided, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to any person who is on parole either from the bench or by the governor paroling such person from custody.”

In 1935 there was passed section 13-2638, Oregon Code 1935, relating to the extradiction of persons charged with crime and to make uniform the law with reference thereto, repealing [409]*409all acts, or parts of acts, inconsistent therewith, and declaring-an emergency.

“If a criminal prosecution has been instituted against such, person under the laws of this state is still pending, the governor, at his discretion, either may surrender him on the demand of the executive authority of another state or may hold him until he has been tried and discharged, or convicted and punished in this state.”

This section, supra, is in conformity with §109-19 GC, and is a part of the uniform criminal extradition act.

The power of the. governor in extradition proceedings is-statutory, and since it pertains to crimes these statutes must-be strictly construed.

In Taylor v Tainter, 16 Wall. (U. S.) 360, it was held:

“Where a state court and a court of the United States-may each take jurisdiction, the tribunal which first gets it-holds it to the exclusion of the other until its duty is fully-performed and the jurisdiction is exhausted.” See 83 Wall. ' (Conn.) 370.

In 201 Massachusetts 609, the court held that the governor has no authority to interfere with the execution of a sentence in a criminal case other than by pardoning the offender.

There is no" evidence that there was ever a pardon issued by the governor of Ohio to the petitioner, and even though there were, there was no evidence of an acceptance of this pardon.

As discussed in the petitioner’s brief, the executive branch of government has no right to transgress on the judicial and thereby set the judgment or the sentence of the accused aside except by executive pardon, for if that were the power given the governor then his office would be comparable to the appellate division of the judiciary in so far as criminal matters are concerned.

In 201 Massachusetts 609 the court continued:

“The governor’s disability to interfere lies deeper than in the absence of an empowering statute. The powers of the-government of Massachusetts are divided among three departments — the legislative, the executive and the judicial — no-one of which shall ever exercise the powers of either of the: others.

[410]

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Related

Brewster v. Luby
380 S.W.2d 261 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1964)
In Re the Habeas Corpus of Langley
1958 OK CR 54 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1958)
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199 Misc. 570 (New York Supreme Court, 1951)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
75 N.E.2d 186, 49 Ohio Law. Abs. 405, 1947 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-bell-ohctcomplsummit-1947.