People Ex Rel. Morris v. Walsh

81 N.E.2d 574, 401 Ill. 165, 1948 Ill. LEXIS 404
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 24, 1948
DocketNo. 30506. Order affirmed.
StatusPublished

This text of 81 N.E.2d 574 (People Ex Rel. Morris v. Walsh) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois 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. Morris v. Walsh, 81 N.E.2d 574, 401 Ill. 165, 1948 Ill. LEXIS 404 (Ill. 1948).

Opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Fulton

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from an order of the criminal court of Cook County which quashed a writ of habeas corpus and ordered the relatrix, Evelyn Morris, remanded to the sheriff for delivery to the authorities of the State of Idaho for extradition on a warrant issued by the Governor of Illinois pursuant to a request of the Governor of Idaho for prosecution of the crime of grand larceny in the State of Idaho.

The record discloses that Evelyn Morris, hereafter referred to as the appellant, was arrested upon the warrant of the Governor of Illinois issued upon the requisition of the Governor of Idaho. A petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus was filed in her behalf alleging that the requisition papers were not in regular and legal form; that appellant was not the person named in said papers; that appellant was not substantially charged with the crime of grand larceny and that appellant was not a fugitive from justice and was not physically or actually present in the State of Idaho on or about the date the alleged crime was committed. A writ of habeas corpus was duly issued and the sheriff of Cook County filed a return to the writ alleging that appellant was properly held under authority of the Governor’s warrant; that the custody was legal and that the requisition papers were in proper form; that she was the particular person named; that she was substantially charged with the crime and that she was a fugitive from justice and was in the State of Idaho on or about the date it is alleged that she committed the offense.

TÉe appellant filed an answer to the return specifically denying the allegations of the sheriff. She also filed a motion to strike the warrant of the Governor of Illinois on the ground that the complaint on which requisition papers were based was founded on hearsay and not upon the personal knowledge of the complainant, as required by law, and that, therefore, extradition could not be had thereon.

A hearing was had, and the warrant of the Governor of Illinois was introduced as evidence, and the appellant offered as evidence a photostatic copy of the requisition papers filed with the Secretary of the State of Illinois. The complaint filed in the State of Idaho upon which the extradition was based is as follows:

“In the Justice’s Court of Boise Precinct, Ada County, Idaho
Before R. W. Adams, Justice of the Peace
Complaint— Criminal
The State of Idaho,
Plaintiff,
vs.
Evelyn Morris, alias Evelyn D. Hutson,
Defendant.
Personally appeared before me this 20th day of July, 1947, ■ Grant L. Ambrose, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in the County of Ada who, being first duly sworn, complains and says:
That Evelyn Morris on or about the 4th day of December, 1946, at............ in the County of Ada and State of Idaho, then and there being and then and there commit the crime of Grand Larceny, said crime being committed as follows, to-wit: That the said defendant, Evelyn Morris, at Boise City, in Ada County, Idaho, on or about the 4th day of December, 1946, then and there being did then and there wilfully, unlawfully, intentionally and feloniously take, steal and carry away the personal property of another, to-wit: approximately sixty-nine (69) cut diamonds, unset, said property being then and there the property of one Green-Griffin Company and of the value of over $60.00, lawful money of the United States, to-wit of the value of Ten Thousand and no one-hundredths ($10,000.00) Dollars, lawful money of the United States.
All of which is contrary to the form of the Statute itf such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Idaho.
Said complainant therefore prays that a Warrant may be issued for the arrest of said Evelyn Morris, and that she may be dealt with according to law.
Grant L. Ambrose
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 30th day of July, 1947.
R. W. Adams
Justice of the Peace”

After hearing arguments on the motion to strike the Governor’s warrant, the court overruled the same and stated that the complaint was not based upon information and belief, even though it appears to have been made by a deputy prosecuting attorney.

The court ruled that the sheriff had proved a prima facie case by introducing the Governor’s warrant. The appellant was then called as a witness in her own behalf and testified that on December 4, 1946, she was not physically or actually present in the State of Idaho and that she had never been there in her life. In rebuttal, appellee called Clarence H. Kohls as a witness who testified that he was a jewelry salesman for the Green-Griffin Company in Idaho in December, 1946, and thát he had occasion to see the appellant in the State of Idaho on that day when she came into the jewelry store where he worked and asked him if he had a certain type of unmounted diamond in stock and that pursuant to her request he showed her certain unmounted diamonds and that he conversed with her for approximately one half hour in said store showing her unmounted diamonds, cigarette lighters and certain aluminum ware. He identified the appellant in open court as the woman who had been in his store on December 4, 1946. On cross examination of this witness it was brought out that he did not see the appellant commit any unlawful act while in the store.

After the hearing the court quashed the writ of habeas corpus and remanded the appellant to the custody of the sheriff to be delivered to the messenger of the State of Idaho, and this appeal followed. The appellant contends that the order of the trial court should be reversed for three reasons:

■ 1. The Idaho warrant is not based upon probable cause because the complaint is not verified by a party having personal knowledge of the matters and things charged therein.
2. The evidence was inadequate to establish that the appellant was a fugitive from Idaho or is the identical person named in the Governor’s warrant.
3. The Idaho criminal proceeding was not brought in good faith, since the evidence conclusively discloses that the appellant did not commit the crime charged.

A careful study of the complaint filed by the deputy prosecuting attorney indicates that the same is verified upon his personal knowledge and is not merely filed upon information and belief. The argument is made by the appellant that the deputy prosecuting attorney was not a witness to the crime charged, but no proof of that fact has been submitted by appellant.

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Bluebook (online)
81 N.E.2d 574, 401 Ill. 165, 1948 Ill. LEXIS 404, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-morris-v-walsh-ill-1948.