Smith v. Nye

272 P.2d 1079, 176 Kan. 679, 1954 Kan. LEXIS 406
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJuly 6, 1954
Docket39,512
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 272 P.2d 1079 (Smith v. Nye) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Nye, 272 P.2d 1079, 176 Kan. 679, 1954 Kan. LEXIS 406 (kan 1954).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Parker, J.:

In this original habeas corpus proceeding petitioner, who is now being detained by the respondent, Herbert R. Nye, Sheriff of Leavenworth County, pursuant to extradition proceedings initiated by the State of Florida, asks that he be released from the custody of that official.

There is no dispute respecting the basic facts responsible for petitioner s detention. In May, 1948, he pleaded guilty to, and was convicted of, a violation of the criminal laws of the State of Florida, namely, grand larceny, and thereupon was sentenced to serve two years for the commission of such offense in the Florida State Prison. He escaped from that penal institution on August 2, 1948, before the expiration of his sentence and came to Kansas where he was *680 subsequently convicted of third degree burglary in the district court of Russell County and sentenced to the Kansas State Penitentiary for a term of from one to five years. When released from thát institution he was immediately apprehended by the respondent under authority of a warrant, issued by the governor of this state pursuant to the extradition proceeding to which reference has been heretofore made, directing such official to deliver him into the custody of duly designated and commissioned agents of the State of Florida. Before full compliance with the directions of such warrant petitioner commenced this proceeding with the result he is still in the respondent’s custody.

The record'before us is not as complete as it might be from the standpoint of pleadings. However, when examined, it may be said they raise the issue of the legality of the petitioner’s detention. Moreover the merits of that question were argued to this court when the case was presented, hence the cause can be determined on that basis.

Nothing would be gained by reciting allegations of the petition or detailing the contentions advanced by the petitioner in support thereof. So far as we have been able to determine all such allegations and contentions are predicated upon the premise that alleged irregularities in the course of the trial resulting in his Florida conviction, i. <?., failure of the court (1) to appoint him counsel, (2) to corroborate his plea of guilty by the sworn testimony of witnesses, and (3) to require the prosecuting attorney to be sworn before testifying as a witness, afford sound grounds for the issuance of the writ prayed for. This contention lacks merit and cannot be upheld because of our decisions which are directly to the contrary. See, e. g., the opinion in our recent case of Ryan v. Sheriff of Leavenworth County, 175 Kan. 159, 160, 259 P. 2d 172, which reads:

“. . . It is not the province of the Kansas courts to go behind the governor’s warrant to inquire into alleged irregularities in the courts of the demanding state. (See, Powell v. Turner, 167 Kan. 524, 207 P. 2d 492, certiorari denied 338 U. S. 835, 70 S. Ct. 41, 94 L. Ed. 509.) . . .”

It must be conceded, as respondent points out, that before the governor of the asylum state can lawfully comply with the demand for extradition it must appear that the person demanded is substantially charged with a crime against the laws of the state from whose justice he is alleged to have fled and that he is a fugitive from the justice of such state. For just a few of the decisions so holding *681 see Powell v. Turner, 167 Kan. 524, 207 P. 2d 492, certiorari denied 338 U. S. 835, 94 L. Ed. 509, 70 S. Ct. 41; Roberts v. Reilly, 116 U. S. 80, 29 L. Ed. 544, 6 S. Ct. 291; Hyatt v. Corkran, 188 U. S. 691, 47 L. Ed. 657, 23 S. Ct. 456; Munsey v. Clough, 196 U. S. 364, 49 L. Ed. 515, 25 S. Ct. 282.

The only question remaining is one which counsel representing the respondent have raised out of fairness to the petitioner. In this connection it is suggested that although he did not do so directly it may be petitioner intended to claim that in view of the provisions of 18 U. S. C. A. 3182 the extradition papers submitted to the governor of this state must include the copy of an indictment found against him or in lieu thereof a positive affidavit charging him with commission of the crime of grand larceny. There are many sound decisions, with which we agree, warranting a conclusion the requirements of the foregoing section of the Federal Code have been complied with where — as here — the statute of the demanding state provides for prosecutions by information, verified as presently related, and where — as is also true here — a copy of the information containing a verification by the prosecuting attorney, stating in substance that the allegations as set forth in that instrument had been sworn to as true and that if true they would constitute the offense (grand larceny) therein charged, is included in the requisition papers presented by the demanding state. See, e. g., Matter of Strauss, 197 U. S. 324, 49 L. Ed. 774, 778, 25 S. Ct. 535; Pierce v. Creecy, 210 U. S. 387, 52 L. Ed. 1113, 1121, 28 S. Ct. 714; Munsey v. Clough, supra; Marbles v. Creecy, 215 U. S. 63, 54 L. Ed. 92, 30 S. Ct. 32; People v. Enright, (112 Misc. Rep. 568) 184 N. Y. S. 248; State ex rel. Treseder v. Remann, 165 Wash. 92, 4 P. 2d 866, 78 A. L. R. 412; Stark v. Livermore, 3 N. J. Super. 94, 65 A. 2d 625; People v. Baker, 306 N. Y. 32, 114 N. E. 2d 194.

Without more, we think the authorities heretofore cited compel the conclusion the involved extradition papers were in proper form and preclude the issuance of the writ on any of the grounds relied on by the petitioner, including the one suggested by the respondent. Re that as it may we are not required to base our decision no writ shall issue entirely upon that premise. The record reveals that the extradition papers submitted, properly authenticated by the governor of the demanding state, included an affidavit, verified by the head of the prison department of that state which definitely established the petitioner’s conviction, his sentence, his incarceration *682 in the Florida state prison, and his escape from that institution before expiration of his sentence in violation of the laws of that state. In the face of that affidavit, which the petitioner does not even dispute, there can be no doubt as to petitioner’s status at the time of the issuance of the warrant under which he is now held in custody. He stood charged with a crime and he was a fugitive from justice. See, Tines v. Hudspeth, 164 Kan. 471, 477, 190 P. 2d 867, where it is said:

“. . .

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
272 P.2d 1079, 176 Kan. 679, 1954 Kan. LEXIS 406, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-nye-kan-1954.