Russell v. Kees

82 P. 290, 40 Wash. 244, 1905 Wash. LEXIS 970
Washington Supreme Court·Decided September 26, 1905·No. No. 5726·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Crow, J.

On September 10, 1904, an information was filed in the superior court for Olarke county, charging aptpellant, Charles B. Bussell, with stealing one head of neat cattle, and upon a plea of guilty, he was sentenced to a term of three years in the penitentiary at Walla Walla, where he is now confined, serving said sentence. On May 11, 1905, appellant applied, by petition, to the superior court for Walla Walla county, for a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that he was illegally restrained of his liberty by respondent A. F. Kees', warden of the state penitentiary, [245] and alleging that the crime for which he was serving sentence had been committed upon the United States military reservation, in said Clarke county, over which the superior court of said county had no jurisdiction.

A writ having been issued, respondent made return thereto* showing that an information had been filed in the superior court of Clarke county, charging appellant with stealing one head of neat cattle in said county; that appellant had been duly arraigned and pleaded guilty; that thereupon said court entered judgment, imposing upon him a sentence of three years in the state penitentiary at Walla Walla; that the sheriff of Clarke county had delivered the person of said Russell to the warden of said penitentiary, together with a warrant of commitment, issued out of said superior court of Clarke county; and that respondent, as warden of said penitentiary, was holding appellant under said judgment, sentence, and commitment.

Certified copies of the information, arraignment, plea of guilty, judgment, sentence, and commitment, which are attached to respondent’s return as a part thereof, and not denied, show all of said proceedings to have been regularly and legally had and conducted, in and by a court of competent jurisdiction. Uo reference is made therein to any military reservation, but such records simply show the crime to have been committed in Clarke county. Upon the hearing, the superior court of Walla Walla county refused to discharge the appellant, but remanded him to the custody of respondent, and this appeal has been taken.

Upon the hearing, appellant offered evidence tending to show that he had stolen said one head of neat cattle upon the United States military reservation, in Clarke county, and said evidence was admitted by the trial court, subject to objection, for the benefit of either party upon appeal. The record fails to show affirmatively that the trial judge considered said evidence, but appellant contends it was not considered. Appellant’s purpose in offering said evidence [246] was to support the claim made by him that the superior court of Olarke' county had no jurisdiction of the crime charged, for the reason that it was committed upon said United States military reservation, appellant relying om subd. 17, § 8 of art. 1, of the constitution of the United States, and § 1 of art. 25, of the constitution of the state of Washington, to show such want of jurisdiction. Respondent objected to said evidence, for the reason that it made a collateral attack upon the final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, in violation of Bal. Code, § 5826, which provides:

“Ho court or judge shall inquire into the legality of any judgment or process whereby the party is in custody, or discharge him when the term of commitment has not expired, in either of the cases following: (1) Upon any process issued on any final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction. . . .”

As the record of the conviction and commitment of appellant appears upon its face to have been regular, and had in a court of competent jurisdiction, we think respondent’s objection was well taken, and that said commitment, issued on said final judgment of said superior court of Clarke county, was conclusive as against appellant. In re Lybarger, 2 Wash. 131, 25 Pac. 1075; In re Nolan, 21 Wash. 395, 58 Pac. 222; Smith v. Hess, 91 Ind. 424. This court, speaking through Hoyt, J.., in In re Lybarger, said:

“When the officer returns as his authority for holding a prisoner a commitment which shows upon its face that such person is committed by a court of general jurisdiction in pursuance of its final judgment for a crime triable by such court, we think he has brought himself within the provisions of our statute, and that the courts are, by the terms thereof, precluded from inquiring further into the cause of detention; and that neither by having the record set out in the petition, nor by bringing it here by certiorari, can this court look therein to see whether or not the court had jurisdiction in that particular case.”

[247] The state of Indiana, in its habeas corpus act, has the same provision as Bal. Code, § 5826, supra, and in Smith v. Hess, supra, the supreme court of that state says :

“A judgment by a court of competent jurisdiction, valid upon its face; and a valid commitment under it, is an unanswerable return to a writ of habeas corpus.”

Appellant insists that, in showing said crime to have been committed on the military reservation, he did not contradict the record, as such reservation is situated within Clarke county, in which the venue of the crime was laid; that by said evidence he only sought to show there is a portion of Clarke county over which the courts of the state can exercise no criminal jurisdiction, a fact consistent with every statement of the record. .We fail to see any merit in this contention, for, after all, appellant only seeks by evidence of extrinsic facts to attack the jurisdiction of the court, which he cannot be permitted to do-. On his trial he might have made a defense to the charge contained in said information, based on facts involved in the claim now presented by him; but, when he pleaded guilty, he waived that defense, and placed himself in the same position he would have occupied had he been convicted by the verdict of a jury and failed to appeal from a judgment entered upon said verdict. The court had jurisdiction of the subject-matter, and also of appellant’s person. The question as to where, in Clarke county, the crime was committed, or whether it was committed in said county at all, was an issue of fact to be determined by a jury, on a trial had on said information. Such question did not affect the jurisdiction of the court over either the subject-matter, or the person of appellant, and, having pleaded guilty, he is now in no position to raise any question on an application for a writ of habeas corpus as to the jurisdiction of the court over the place where the crime was committed.

[248] Speaking of jurisdiction, Church, in his work on Habeas Corpus, at § 368, says:

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Russell v. Kees, 82 P. 290, 40 Wash. 244, 1905 Wash. LEXIS 970 (Wash. 1905).

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