State v. Booth

328 P.2d 1104, 134 Mont. 235, 1958 Mont. LEXIS 21
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 7, 1958
Docket9878
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 328 P.2d 1104 (State v. Booth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Booth, 328 P.2d 1104, 134 Mont. 235, 1958 Mont. LEXIS 21 (Mo. 1958).

Opinions

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE JUSTICE HARRISON:

The appellant, F. C. Booth, petitioned the district court for a writ of habeas corpus on August 13, 1957, alleging that his arrest was illegal; that the application for extradition did not show that he was guilty of any crime; and that the application for extradition was not made in good faith. The court issued an order for a writ of habeas corpus directed to Roy Stewart, sheriff of the County of Yellowstone, ordering, him to have the body of the said F. C. Booth in the district court on the 6th day of September.

Return to the writ was made, on August 16, 1957, by the sheriff in which he certified that Booth was committed to his custody and detained by virtue of a warrant issued by the governor of the State of Montana; that the warrant was based on a requisition made upon him by the governor of the State of Oregon and a complaint charging the defendant with a felony filed in the justice court of Coos County, Oregon; and a warrant issued out of said court. Copies of the instruments were annexed to the return.

Exhibit C, attached to the sheriff’s return, was a complaint made and filed in the justice court for Coos County, Oregon in which it was alleged: “F. C. Booth is accused by Willard [238]*238Friesen by this Information of the crime of Drawing Cheek with Insufficient Funds in Bank to Pay same in Full committed as follows:

“The said F. C. Booth on the 2nd day of May 1957, in the County of Coos, and State of Oregon, then and there being, did then and there unlawfully, wilfully, and feloniously, with intent to defraud, take, draw, utter and deliver to City Center Motel of North Bend, Oregon, a certain cheek for the payment of money upon the First National Bank of Portland, Main Branch, Portland, Oregon, which said check is, in words and figures, as follows: To-wit:
“ ‘To
“ ‘First National May 2, 1957
“ ‘Main Branch Portland
“ ‘Pay to the Order
Of City Center Motel $50.00
Fifty and..................................................................Dollars
“ ‘s/s/ F. C. Booth’

he, the said defendant, then and there knowing at the time of said making, drawing, uttering and delivery of said check to the said City Center Motel, that he, the said defendant, did .not have sufficient funds in, or credit with, said bank for the payment of said check in full upon its presentation, contrary to the Statutes in such case made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the State of Oregon.

“/s/ Willard Friesen-
“Private Prosecutor”

The information was verified by Willard Friesen and subscribed and sworn to before Thornes B. Swanton, Justice of the Peace, Coos County, Oregon.

• Swanton, the justice of the peace, issued a warrant for the arrest of F. C. Booth on May 20, 1957.

Hearing was had on the return day and on September 27, the court made and entered its order providing that the defendant was legally detained in custody by virtue of a valid warrant issued by the governor of the State of Oregon under [239]*239date of July 15, 1957, and by virtue of the warrant issued by the governor of the State of Montana on July 30, 1957, authorizing Charles M. Strawn, as agent of the governor of the State of Oregon, to apprehend and convey the petitioner to the State of Oregon to be there tried for the crime of drawing a check with insufficient funds in bank. It was further ordered that the petitioner, F. C. Booth, be remanded to the custody of the sheriff of Yellowstone County, Montana, for delivery to Charles M. Strawn, as agent of the Governor of Oregon.

A petition for rehearing was filed on October 2, 1957, on the grounds that the defendant, F. C. Booth, was entitled to discharge under section 94-101-15, R.C.M. 1947. This petition was denied on October 7, 1957; appeal was taken upon two specifications of error: (1) The court erred upon the hearing of the writ of habeas corpus in not granting the same and discharging the defendant from custody; (2) The court erred in denying the defendant’s petition for rehearing and ruling that his right must be determined by appeal.

At the outset, no appeal lies from the order denying the writ of habeas corpus in this case. The rule was first laid down in State ex rel. Jackson v. Kennie, 24 Mont. 45, 49-51, 60 Pac. 589, by Mr. Chief Justice Brantly, that an appeal does not lie from an order denying the writ of habeas corpus in a proceeding criminal in nature, — that is, where the issue to be determined is the freedom of the petitioner, or the legality of the petitioner’s detention. The reason for the rule being that denial of habeas corpus is not res adjudicada; the writ of habeas corpus being an original writ — issuable out of either the district or supreme court. Thus, denial of the writ in district court does not divest this court of jurisdiction to grant a second application. In re Pyle, 72 Mont. 494, 496-497, 234 Pac. 254.

This court, however, has held that an appeal lies from an order of the district court denying the writ of habeas corpus in a case involving the custody of a minor child. In re Thompson, 77 Mont. 466, 469, 251 Pac. 163; ex parte Rein[240]*240hardt, 88 Mont. 282, 286, 287, 292 Pac. 582; State ex rel. Veach v. Veach, 122 Mont. 47, 63, 195 Pac. (2d) 697.

The reason for allowing an appeal in that type of case is said to devolve upon the essential nature of the proceedings in the custody case. Thus, a custody case has been said to be in the nature of a civil equitable suit; the petitioner to be in the position of a plaintiff in the cause; and the order denying the writ to be a judgment determining the merits of the controversy from which a civil appeal lies. In re Thompson, supra.

Mr. Justice Angstman concisely stated the distinction between the two types of cases in Ex parte Reinhardt, supra, wherein he said [88 Mont. 282, 292 Pac. 584]:

" Ordinarily, the doctrine of res adjiidic-ata has no application in habeas corpus proceedings. As was stated by Mr. Justice Galen in the ease of In re Pyle, 72 Mont. 494, 234 Pac. 254: 'A decision on habeas corpus by one court does not constitute a bar to another proceeding of the same character in another court having jurisdiction, and the fact that justice of this court has once issued a writ, returnable for hearing before a district judge, does not, after decision by the district judge, divest this court of jurisdiction to entertain a second application, issue the writ, and make it returnable before another district judge, or one of its members or before the court itself. No appeal is permitted in habeas corpus cases, and successive applications for the writ may be made until the judicial power of the state has been exhausted.’
“But respondent, in reliance upon the case of In re Thompson, 77 Mont. 466, 251 Pac. 163, contends that a different rule obtains in a proceeding in habeas corpus having as its object the determination of the right to the custody of a minor child. Were this controversy between conflicting claimants to the custody of a minor and had Judge Self awarded the custody to one of the claimants, that case would be controlling and an appeal would have been available and the doctrine of

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State v. Booth
328 P.2d 1104 (Montana Supreme Court, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
328 P.2d 1104, 134 Mont. 235, 1958 Mont. LEXIS 21, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-booth-mont-1958.