People ex rel. Cavers v. Grasheim

28 Misc. 2d 102, 214 N.Y.S.2d 936, 1961 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3046
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedApril 19, 1961
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 28 Misc. 2d 102 (People ex rel. Cavers v. Grasheim) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People ex rel. Cavers v. Grasheim, 28 Misc. 2d 102, 214 N.Y.S.2d 936, 1961 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3046 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1961).

Opinion

J. Irwin Shapiro, J.

The State of South Carolina seeks to extradite the relator. He has obtained a writ of habeas corpus and the issues arising upon the return of that writ are here for determination.

[103]*103The relator, a minister, formerly resided in Charlotte, North Carolina, and pastored a church in York, South Carolina, for more than 25 years.

Prior to March 18, 1958 he had led an exemplary life, had never been convicted of a crime, and had been active as an integrationist and in other causes on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

On March 18, 1958 the relator was operating an automobile in the City of York, State of South Carolina, and while doing so it collided at an intersection with an automobile being driven by one William S. Dickson, a white resident of York, South Carolina. Mr. Dickson, a man 80 years old, was instantly killed.

The relator was arrested and thereafter tried upon an indictment charging him with murder and reckless homicide.

Relator was found guilty of “ reckless homicide ” and was sentenced to serve three years in the South Carolina penitentiary.

The relator appealed to the South Carolina Supreme Court where he contended, by an assignment of error, that “ the testimony concerning speed of his automobile violated the South Carolina rule concerning such evidence since none of the witnesses identified the relator as the driver of the car which they claimed they had seen and none of them identified the car as the one involved in the accident”.

These and other contentions of the relator were rejected by the South Carolina Supreme Court as being without merit. As a consequence his conviction was affirmed. (State v. Cavers, 236 S. C. 305.)

Upon a petition for a rehearing, relator contended that the receipt of evidence contrary to the State Supreme Court’s rule violated the relator’s right of due process of law, protected by the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The petition for rehearing was denied by the South Carolina Supreme Court on May 21,1960.

The relator thereupon made application for a stay of sentence and a stay of remittitur, in order to apply for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States.

On or about the 4th day of December, 1958 and at the time the relator served his notice of appeal, from the judgment of conviction, to the South Carolina Supreme Court, he was required to and did post an appearance bond in the amount of $5,000. One Harvey Maners was the surety on the bond.

At the time the South Carolina Supreme Court denied the relator’s application for a rehearing in May of 1960, the relator was in the State of New York attending a church convention. He has since then failed to present himself to the appropriate [104]*104South Carolina authorities to begin serving the sentence imposed upon him, but has elected to remain in this State.

A petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court was filed with that court on August 22, 1960. It was denied on November 7, 1960. (Cavers v. South Carolina, 364 U. S. 886.)

The relator was arrested in this State at the request of the South Carolina authorities on January 11, 1961, eight months after the South Carolina Supreme Court had affirmed his conviction and approximately two months after the United States Supreme Court had denied his petition for a writ or certiorari.

The relator appeared in the Magistrates’ Court of the City of New York on January 12, 1961, at which time the case was adjourned to the next day and at that time was further adjourned to February 3, 1961.

On February 3, 1961 the Magistrate transferred the matter to the County Court of Queens County, where the relator was advised of his right to return voluntarily to the State of South Carolina or to apply for a writ of habeas corpus. He thereupon sued out the writ which initiated this proceeding (Code Crim. Pro., § 838).

In the Magistrates’ Court there were present not only the relator and his attorney but a Sheriff from South Carolina and his deputy. In the Sheriff’s Party ” was Harvey Maners, the surety on relator’s appearance bond. The “ Sheriff’s Party” followed the relator to the Queens County Courthouse where the relator appeared pursuant to the direction of the Magistrates ’ Court. The hearing in the County Court was thereupon adjourned.

Upon leaving the courtroom, the relator and his counsel conferred with Harvey Maners, at which time the relator was informed by Maners in the presence of counsel that if the relator (Cavers) could raise $5,000 to exonerate the bond, the entire matter would be dropped. He also allegedly said that it was he, Maners, who was interested in the relator’s return to the State of South Carolina and not the State itself. A tentative agreement was worked out and the parties dispersed. Apparently, by reason of certain incidents which thereafter occurred and which are not germane to this proceeding, nothing further was done in connection with the proposed agreement.

The relator now seeks to sustain the writ of habeas corpus obtained by him contending: “ (1) No crime was in fact committed in the State of South Carolina. (2) That he is a fugitive from injustice rather than a fugitive from justice. (3) That the State of South Carolina is in fact not acting in good faith, [105]*105(and) that this is an attempt to return the Relator to the State of South Carolina to satisfy a bail bond, a private claim and debt.”

To support his contention that “no crime was in fact committed in the State of South Carolina ” relator urges “ that the State of South Carolina did not have the right or power to proceed under a statute which clearly required a showing of recklessness and also to rely on a common law remedy requiring only a show of negligence in the event that the proof is insufficient to support a verdict under the statute.” He further argues that the trial court also erred when it did not require “ the State to elect between the common law and the statutory charge ” by reason of which “ it was impossible for the Relator to know the standard which was applied to his acts.”

This point is palpably without merit. The relator has been found guilty by a jury; that verdict was permitted to stand by the Trial Judge, and the judgment of conviction entered thereon was affirmed by the Supreme Court in the State of South Carolina, which upon an application for a rehearing adhered to its affirmance. In addition, as has been noted, certiorari was refused by the United States Supreme Court.

Under such circumstances, this court is foreclosed from inquiring into the propriety of the rulings made on the trial in the demanding State. Every one of the 50 States in these United States, being a sovereign power, has a right, within constitutional limitations, to formulate and adopt its own rules of procedure and evidence. "Whether in any case a trial court has committed error is for the Appellate Court of that particular State to determine (or if a Federal Constitution question be involved, for the United States Supreme Court), but no court in another State may sit as a reviewing tribunal. (Code Crim. Pro., § 849; People ex rel. Samet v. Kennedy, 285 App. Div. 1116.)

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Bluebook (online)
28 Misc. 2d 102, 214 N.Y.S.2d 936, 1961 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3046, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-cavers-v-grasheim-nysupct-1961.