State ex rel. Gehrmann v. Osborne

82 A. 424, 79 N.J. Eq. 430, 1911 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 8
CourtNew Jersey Court of Chancery
DecidedDecember 6, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 82 A. 424 (State ex rel. Gehrmann v. Osborne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Court of Chancery primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Gehrmann v. Osborne, 82 A. 424, 79 N.J. Eq. 430, 1911 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 8 (N.J. Ct. App. 1911).

Opinion

Garrison, Y. C.

(after stating facts).

The questions presented are of importance not only to the prisoner but to the public, and I have given the matter much time and consideration.

[434]*434The first question, of course, is whether a proper case is presented for the application of the jurisdiction exercisable under the writ of habeas corpus. It is familiar law that a writ of habeas corpus is not properly usable to take the place of a writ of error. Our statute concerning habeas corpus specifically provides (Gen. Stat. p. 1622 § 2)—

“that the following persons shall not be entitled to prosecute such writ: * * * II. Persons committed or detained by virtue of the final judgment or decree of any competent • tribunal of civil or criminal jurisdic tion * *

It is not suggested that the court of quarter sessions was not a competent tribunal of criminal jurisdiction, that it had not specific jurisdiction with respect to the crime of abortion, nor that the judgment which it rendered, standing by itself, was not a proper judgment and fully within the jurisdiction of the court.

It is alleged, on behalf of the prisoner, that the judgment was invalid—first, because the court of quarter sessions had no further power over the petitioner after sentence was postponed; second, that the conviction in this case, being for a high misdemeanor, and a term having passed at which the sentence was postponed, the court could not, in view of the act of 1898 (chapter 237, section 55, page 885), and the amendment thereto (P. L. 1908 p. 429), open and vacate that judgment and resentence the defendant.

It will thus be seen that the petitioner justifies her use of the writ of habeas corpus, not by alleging an error committed by the trial court which would require the use of a writ of error to obtain correction thereof, but by alleging that the judgment or sentence was invalid, and that the court had no jurisdiction at the time that it pronounced judgment or sentence to pronounce the same.

If she sustains this contention, it would seem, under the authorities in this state, that she is entitled to the writ. Whether she sustains the same can only be determined by a careful consideration of the facts and the law applicable thereto.

Mr. Justice Swayze, in In re Marlow, 75 N. J. Law (46 Vr.) 400 (at p. 402), after citing the provision of the Habeas Corpus [435]*435act, to which I have alluded, and calling attention to the fact that the final judgment of the "competent tribunal” there spoken of obviously applies only to valid legal judgments, said (concerning the power of review on habeas corpus), "that such a review can be had where there was a lack of jurisdiction in the trial court is not doubted. The difficult question always is to distinguish between a lack of jurisdiction to pronounce the particular judgment and a mere error in law or fact to be redressed by writ of error in the one case and by motion (taking the place of the old writ of error coram nobis) in the other case,” calling attention by citation to many authorities.

If, however, the insistence of the petitioner is that the judgment of the competent tribunal of criminal jurisdiction was invalid, direct authority is found for her use of the writ in the cases of State v. Gray (Supreme Court, 1875), 37 N. J. Law (8 Vr.) 368; State v. Addy (Supreme Court, 1881), 43 N. J. Law (14 Vr.) 113, and In re Marlow, supra, and in the following authorities, which may be consulted by one who desires a more extended consideration of the whole subject: Clifford v. Heller (Supreme Court, 1899), 63 N. J. Law (34 Vr.) 105; 57 L. R. A. 312, and notes; Spell. Inj. Ex. Rem. (2d ed.) §§ 1202, 1206, 1211, 1215, 1216; Ex Parte Parks, 93 U. S. 18; 23 L. Ed. 787 (1876), and see cases and notes in 11 L. R. A. 694; 14 L. R. A. 128; 38 L. R. A. 675; 48 L. R. A. 220; 56 L. R. A. 513 (at p. 539); 13 L. R. A. (N. S.) 518; 25 L. R. A. (N. S.) 483.

This brings us then to the consideration of the question of whether the judgment of the court in this case was invalid.

The first question which calls for consideration is whether the fact that the defendant pleaded nolo contendere, and sentence was thereupon postponed, places her in any other situation than she would have been in had she been convicted upon trial or had pleaded guilty.

This plea, in which the defendant pleads in the first person nolo contendere, and the clerk properly enters it in the third person, non vult contendere, was used at common law, and, while unknown in many of our sister states, is used in some of them, and, so far as our books show, has always been usable in this jurisdiction. Peacock v. Hudson Quarter Sessions (Supreme [436]*436Court, 1884), 46 N. J. Law (17 Vr.) 113; State v. Henson (Court of Errors and Appeals, 1901), 66 N. J. Law (37 Vr.) 601.

Concerning this plea, it is said, in 2 Encycl. Pl. & Pr. 787:

“A plea of nolo contendere is, as its name indicates, a declaration that-the defendant will not contend as to his guilt or innocence; and although it is not common, it is sometimes allowed in misdemeanors as a sort of' compromise between the prosecuting officer and the defendant. It is pleaded only by leave of the court, but its effect when accepted differs but. little from that of a plea of guilty, as far as the same suit is concerned. Upon this plea it is not necessary or proper that the court should adjudge the party to be guilty, but sentence should bo passed forthwith.”

And the text is borne out by the New Jersey authorities above-cited, by those in the notes to the text, and by those next cited herein, which latter further show that upon the acceptance of' this plea the court is unrestricted by law with respect to the-sentence which it may impose within the limits fixed by the-statute for the punishment of the specific offense, whatever may otherwise be the case if the court enters into an arrangement to-fix a light penalty. Commonwealth v. Ferguson, 44 Pa. Sup. Ct. Rep. 626; Commonwealth v. Stewart, Ibid. 620; State v. Herlihy (Me., 1906), 66 Atl. Rep. 643; State v. Siddall (Me., 1907), 68 Atl. Rep. 635.

The fact that .very often the plea is accepted by the court,, after a consultation with the prosecutor and the prisoner in which it is agreed that a light punishment shall be inflicted, does-not alter the situation; and we are not concerned with, and I shall not, therefore, attempt to determine what the legal effect would be,of an alleged violation by the court of an agreement tm lightly sentence one who should thus be induced to plead nolo contendere.

The next matter to be considered is whether the act of 1898,. chapter 237, section 55, as amended by the act of 1908, page 429, which is relied upon by the petitioner, applies to the casein hand?

The original act and its amendment, after providing that the-court before which a conviction is had, and which has sentenced' the prisoner, may, upon application for a new trial, have power-[437]

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Bluebook (online)
82 A. 424, 79 N.J. Eq. 430, 1911 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-gehrmann-v-osborne-njch-1911.