Johnson v. BURKE, ETC.

148 N.E.2d 413, 238 Ind. 1, 1958 Ind. LEXIS 201
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 10, 1958
Docket29,483
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 148 N.E.2d 413 (Johnson v. BURKE, ETC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. BURKE, ETC., 148 N.E.2d 413, 238 Ind. 1, 1958 Ind. LEXIS 201 (Ind. 1958).

Opinions

Landis, J.

This case involves the constitutionality of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act which is ch. 49, §§1-30 of the Acts of 1935.1

In the lower court appellant filed petition for writ of habeas corpus. Return was filed by appellee-sheriff alleging appellant was arrested pursuant to a warrant of the Governor of the State of Indiana issued in extradition proceedings initiated by the State of Arizona, the demanding state. Appellant filed affirmative answer to the return to the writ.

At the hearing of said cause appellant attempted to show by his testimony that he was not in the State of Arizona on the date the offense was allegedly committed, to-wit: February 15, 1955, and that he had not been in Arizona since the year 1951; that he had not fled from the State of Arizona or any other state, and that at the time of the alleged offense was in the [4]*4State of Indiana. Appellee objected to the introduction of this evidence and the objection was sustained.

The court denied the petition for writ of habeas corpus and overruled appellant’s motion for new trial.

The question on this appeal according to appellant’s brief is whether, in a habeas corpus proceeding to test the validity of an arrest and detention made by virtue of a Governor’s extradition warrant, the petitioner may offer evidence to prove that he was not in the demanding state at the time of the alleged offense.

Appellee relies on §20 of the Uniform Extradition Act (Acts of 1935, ch. 49, §20, being Burns’ §9-438, 1956 Replacement) which provides in substance:

“The guilt or innocence of the accused as to the crime of which he is charged may not be inquired into by the governor or in any proceeding after the demand for extradition accompanied by a charge of crime in legal form as above provided shall have been presented to the governor, except as it may be involved in identifying the person held as the person charged with the crime.”

Appellant concedes that this court in Taylor v. Smith (1939), 213 Ind. 640, 13 N. E. 2d 954, construed the quoted portion of the above statute to limit the evidence in habeas corpus brought thereunder to the question of identity only.

Appellant does not urge that the Taylor case, which limited the evidence to the question of appellant’s identity, is too broad a construction of the statute,2 [5]*5but contends solely that the construction of the Uniform Extradition Act by the Taylor case violates the Federal (Art. 4, §2, cl. 2, and 14th Amendment) and State (Art. 1, §12, and Art. 1, §27) Constitutions. We shall now consider these contentions.

Art. 4, §2, cl. 2 of the U. S. Constitution provides:

“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.”

The Act of Congress (1948), ch. 645, 62 Stat. 822 (Title 18, U. S. C. A., §3182), implementing such constitutional provision provides:

“Whenever the executive authority of any State or Territory demands any person as a fugitive from justice, of the executive authority of any State, District or Territory to which such person has fled, and produces a copy of an indictment found or an affidavit made before a magistrate of any State or Territory, charging the person demanded with having committed treason, felony, or other crime, certified as authentic by the governor or chief magistrate of the State or Territory from whence the person so charged has fled, the executive authority of the State, District or Territory to which such person has fled shall cause him to be arrested and secured, and notify the executive authority making such demand, or the [6]*6agent of such authority appointed to receive the fugitive, and shall cause the fugitive to be delivered to such agent when he shall appear. If no such agent appears within thirty days from the time . of the arrest, the prisoner may be discharged.”

Appellant has cited decisions of the U. S. Supreme Court to the effect that under the above quoted federal constitutional provision and statute, a person held by extradition proceedings may in habeas corpus show that he was not in the demanding- state when the alleged offense was committed, and that if he so proves, he is entitled to be discharged. See: Hyatt v. Corkran (1903), 188 U. S. 691, 47 L. Ed. 657, 23 S. Ct. 456; South Carolina v. Bailey (1933), 289 U. S. 412, 77 L. Ed. 1292, 53 S. Ct. 667; Innes v. Tobin (1916), 240 U. S. 127, 60 L. Ed. 562, 36 S. Ct. 290; Robb v. Connolly (1884), 111 U. S. 624, 28 L. Ed. 542, 4 S. Ct. 544; 22 Am. Jur. (Extradition), §54, p. 293.

Are these decisions decisive of the question before us in the case at bar? An examination of these cases reveals that they involved solely the application of Art. 4, §2 of the U. S. Constitution and the implementing statute, and did not attempt to consider the question of whether a state may by appropriate legislation enlarge the scope of extradition beyond that provided for under federal law.3 It is therefore not surprising in these federal decisions where the demanding state based its sole right to the custody of

[7]*7the' prisoner upon the Federal Constitution and statute, that extradition should have been denied. Nor can there be any question as to the correctness of the statement of the U. S. Supreme Court in South Carolina v. Bailey (1933), supra (289 U. S. at p. 420, 77 L. Ed. at p. 1296, 53 S. Ct. at p. 670), that “it was the duty of [the state] court to administer the law prescribed by the Constitution and statute of the United States, as construed by this Court.” In the case before us, however, the extradition warrant of the Governor of Indiana recites that the proceeding is “in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution and laws of the United States and of the State of Indiana.” (Emphasis supplied.) And it is therefore apparent that if the extradition proceedings are authorized under state law and do not offend federal law, such proceedings will be sustained.4

The case of Innes v. Tobin (1916), supra, relied on by appellant, while recognizing that a person extradited wiithin the purview of Art, 4, §2 of the U. S. Constitution and the implementing federal statute, must have been a fugitive from the demanding state, nevertheless held that the failure of the implementing federal statute to provide for the extradition of fugitives who did not flee into the. asylum state, was not fatal to extradition from such asylum state. (Here the fugitive had fled from Georgia to Oregon, and after being extradited from Oregon to [8]*8Texas for a charge of murder, resulting in an acquittal, was being extradited from Texas to Georgia.) The U. S.

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Johnson v. BURKE, ETC.
148 N.E.2d 413 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1958)

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Bluebook (online)
148 N.E.2d 413, 238 Ind. 1, 1958 Ind. LEXIS 201, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-burke-etc-ind-1958.