In Re Riggins

11 N.W.2d 871, 307 Mich. 234
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 29, 1943
DocketDocket No. 96, Calendar No. 42,235.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 11 N.W.2d 871 (In Re Riggins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Riggins, 11 N.W.2d 871, 307 Mich. 234 (Mich. 1943).

Opinion

Boyles, C. J.

This is an appeal in the nature of certiorari, upon leave granted, from an order of the circuit court for Wayne county dismissing appellant’s petition for the writ of habeas corpus.

Appellant was taken into custody by the sheriff of Wayne county on a fugitive warrant upon requisition by the governor of Georgia, charged with being a fugitive from justice from that State. The executive authority of the State of Georgia presented to the governor of this State a demand for extradition of appellant, showing that an indictment had been returned by a grand jury in Crisp county, *236 Georgia, charging appellant with the crime of murder. The governor of this State granted the demand and issued an extradition warrant commanding the delivery of appellant to the duly authorized agent of the demanding State. Section 9 of the uniform extradition act (Act No. 144, Pub. Acts 1937 [See Comp. Laws Supp. 1940, § 17512-1— 17512-31, Stat. Ann. 1943 Cum. Supp. §§ 28.1285(1)-28.1285(31), inclusive]) provides:

“No person arrested upon such warrant shall be delivered over to the agent whom the executive authority demanding him shall have appointed to receive him unless he shall first be taken forthwith before a judge of a court of record in this State, who shall inform him of the demand made for his surrender and of the crime with which he is charged, and that he has the right to demand and procure legal counsel; and if the prisoner or his counsel shall state that he or they desire to test the legality of his arrest, the judge of such court of record shall fix a reasonable time to he allowed him within which to apply for a writ of habeas corpus. When such writ is applied for, notice thereof, and of the time and place of hearing thereon, shall he given to the prosecuting officer of the county in which the arrest is made and in which the accused is in custody, and to the said agent of the demanding State. ’ ’

On the day following the issuance of the governor’s warrant of rendition, appellant filed a petition in the circuit court for Wayne county for a writ of habeas corpus, asserting in general terms that he was “illegally held; illegally denied the right to hail and illegally restrained of his liberty contrary to the Constitution and statutes of the State of Michigan and of the Constitution of the United States of America.” The writ was granted, and the sheriff of Wayne county to whom the writ was directed *237 made return as follows:

“1. That-1 have the said above named Johnnie Riggings alias Rigan in my custody and under my power and restraint.
“2. That the true cause of such imprisonment and.detention and restraint is: The above defendant was arrested by police officers of the city of Detroit, county of Wayne, State of Michigan, by virtue of a criminal warrant issued by the Honorable Arthur E. Gordon, judge of recorder’s court for the city of Detroit, charging defendant with being a fugitive from justice, having heretofore fled from the State of Georgia, and being charged with the crime of murder. Thereafter, on the 18th day of September, A. D. 1942, an extradition warrant for the said defendant was issued by the Honorable Murray D. Van Wagoner, governor of the State of Michigan, by virtue of which warrant defendant is now held in custody.
‘ ‘ 3. All of the papers in this matter appear to be valid and regular upon their face.”

Thereupon a hearing on the issues involved was held before a circuit judge for Wayne county. While our record of the hearing fails to state what issues were raised, we assume from the testimony taken that the issue was the question of identity of the defendant. Detective Lieutenant Rose, a member of the Detroit police department, was sworn and testified:

‘ ‘ Q. When you had the petitioner in the homicide squad, did you ask him whether he was Johnny Rig-gins ?
“A. I did, because at the time he was arrested, he was going under the name of Jimmy Mitchell.
“Q. Did he admit to you he was? * * *
“A. He stated his name is Jimmy Mitchell, and that his right name was John B. Riggins, and he left *238 Cordell, Georgia, on December 28, 1937, and has been in Detroit shortly after; or from there he went to Atlanta, Georgia, and from Atlanta, Georgia, he came to Detroit and has been working here about five years under the name of James Mitchell. * * *
“Q. Lieutenant, did he tell you how he spelled his name?
“A. Yes, R-e-g-a-n.
“Q. R-e-g-a-n.
“A. That’s right.
“Q. So that he told you his name was John Regan, R-e-g-a-n?
“A. That’s right.”

The sheriff of Crisp county, Georgia, was sworn and testified that he. had been sheriff of that county 16 years, that he knew the petitioner, Johnnie Rig-gins, had known him 12 or 15 years, that he (Riggins) lived in Cordell, the county seat of Crisp county, that he was working on a farm about three miles from town. He testified:

“Q. Is this petitioner, Johnny Riggins, wanted in your county to answer to a charge of murder ?
“A. He is. * * *
“Q. Did you know him as Johnny Riggins or John Regan?
“A." Known him as John B. Regan.
“Q. John B. Regan?
“A. Johnny B. they call him.
“Q. You brought the papers here from Georgia, didn’t you?
“A. I did.
“Q. And in those papers there you have the name the person you want is Johnny B. Riggins?
“A. That’s the way we spell it down there.”

Under the uniform extradition act, the accused may raise the question, of identity—-that he is not the same person as the one charged with the crime *239 in the demanding’ State. If he is not, it follows that he cannot be held as a fugitive from justice. But his guilt or innocence cannot be inquired into. That issue is for trial in the courts of the demanding State. Section 19 of the uniform extradition act (Comp. Laws Supp. 1940, § 17512-19, Stat. Ann. 1943 Cum. Supp. § 28.1285[19]) provides:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
11 N.W.2d 871, 307 Mich. 234, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-riggins-mich-1943.