Taylor v. Garrison

329 So. 2d 506
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 23, 1976
Docket49090
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 329 So. 2d 506 (Taylor v. Garrison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taylor v. Garrison, 329 So. 2d 506 (Mich. 1976).

Opinion

329 So.2d 506 (1976)

Johnny TAYLOR, Sheriff
v.
Dr. Norman Asa GARRISON, Jr.

No. 49090.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

March 23, 1976.
Rehearing Denied April 20, 1976.

*507 A.F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Edwin A. Snyder, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellant.

Farese, Farese & Farese, Ashland, Kay Farese Luckett, Clarksdale, for appellee.

Before PATTERSON, ROBERTSON and BROOM, JJ.

BROOM, Justice, for the Court:

Extradition of appellee, Dr. Garrison, to Missouri on a murder charge was ordered by the Governor of Mississippi. The governor's action in issuing a rendition warrant was challenged by appellee in a habeas corpus court of Marshall County. After indulging various theories as to what may have actually occurred, the habeas corpus court found that insufficient probable cause existed when the accusatory affidavit was filed against appellee in Missouri, and that he had not been in Missouri on the date of the murder. Accordingly, the habeas corpus court suppressed the extradition *508 warrant, sustained the writ of habeas corpus, and discharged appellee. Sheriff Taylor appeals the matter here. Though we must reverse the judgment appealed from, Dr. Garrison's guilt or innocence is not before us and we make no judgment whatever on that issue.

Briefly stated, the facts are as follows. The body of Lee Ann Garrison, ex-wife of appellee, was discovered at approximately 11:20 A.M. on Sunday, September 8, 1974. Several hours later, by affidavit of a Missouri prosecutor, appellee was charged with murder. On December 4, 1974, Mississippi Governor Waller, upon requisition of Missouri, issued his rendition warrant which the habeas corpus court nullified. In the habeas corpus court appellee called the Missouri prosecutor (as an adverse witness) who described events and evidence which caused him to file the charge.

As counsel for appellee (in the habeas corpus court) was questioning the prosecuting attorney from Missouri about another suspect (a Mrs. Hatley), appellant's counsel objected to any further such questioning on the ground that probable cause for issuance of the affidavit was not a proper inquiry. Ruling on the objection was reserved by the court, and appellee's counsel was allowed to show that others may have had motive and opportunity to kill Mrs. Garrison. Then on appellant's behalf, a Mississippi Deputy Sheriff (Bright) testified that he took appellee into custody pursuant to the governor's warrant on December 4, 1974. Appellant then placed in evidence the governor's extradition warrant bearing the sheriff's return and rested.

Testifying in his own behalf, appellee presented an alibi (corroborated by several prominent Mississippi citizens) that he was not in Missouri, but in Mississippi at Pickwick Lake from the afternoon of September 7, 1974, until the afternoon of September 8, 1974. He denied being in the demanding state of Missouri since June 1, 1974. Some of his testimony as to certain details and statements made by him as to his plans for September 8 was contradicted by rebuttal witnesses of appellant.

Physical facts, found to exist at or near the Garrison residence in Missouri, introduced by appellant consisted of: (1) a fingerprint identified as appellee's lifted from a metal fence; (2) a torn surgical glove found near the victim; (3) three types of blood were discovered: Type A — Mrs. Garrison's; Type O — appellee's; and Type B — unidentified; (4) a bloody footprint having similarities to appellee's; and (5) someone with obvious knowledge of the intricate telephone system had rendered it inoperable.

In the arguments presented here, it is not questioned that there are three traditional requisites for extradition, to-wit: There must be a showing that the person sought is (1) the person named in the extradition writ, (2) charged pursuant to 18 U.S.C.A. section 3182 (1969) with a crime in the demanding state, and (3) a fugitive from the justice of the demanding state. At the hearing granted by the governor it was found that those requisites had been met. Based on this finding, the governor issued his rendition warrant and his act as a public official carries with it a presumption of validity.

I.

The first issue is whether the habeas corpus court erred in suppressing the warrant of extradition issued by the Mississippi Governor on the ground that the accusatory affidavit filed against the appellee in Missouri was not presented to the Governor in Mississippi or to the habeas corpus court.

The record is devoid of proof that such an affidavit was not presented to the governor. However, an authenticated copy of Governor Waller's rendition warrant directing appellee's arrest was put in evidence at the habeas corpus hearing, and its *509 form and contents were not shown to be deficient. Grace v. Dogan, 151 Miss. 267, 117 So. 596, 597 (1928). Such a warrant was prima facie evidence of the existence of every jurisdictional fact necessary to the governor's determination before he issued such process. Illinois ex rel. McNichols v. Pease, 207 U.S. 100, 28 S.Ct. 58, 52 L.Ed. 121 (1907); Roberson v. Quave, 211 Miss. 398, 51 So.2d 777 (1951); Loper v. Dees, 210 Miss. 402, 49 So.2d 718 (1951); Grace v. Dogan, supra; Ex Parte Walters, 106 Miss. 439, 64 So. 2 (1913); Ex Parte Edwards, 91 Miss. 621, 44 So. 827 (1907); Ex Parte Devine, 74 Miss. 715, 22 So. 3 (1897).

In the habeas corpus court it was appellee's burden to overcome appellant's prima facie case made out by the governor's warrant. Though appellant could have properly placed in evidence all pertinent extradition documents, the warrant was sufficient to establish a prima facie case. As movant, appellee, failed in his attack on the form, content, or sufficiency of the extradition documents. His burden was to produce the documents, or at least demand that appellant produce them, but he made no attempt to get them before the habeas corpus court and into the record. In this regard his burden is clear because by motion to suppress the extradition warrant he contended that the charge against him was not brought "upon probable cause supported by necessary supporting affidavits." In such a posture, his motion required proof. The governor's extradition hearing officer was available to the appellee. He had been subpoenaed to appear and bring all the extradition documents. The officer testified but appellee made no attempt to offer the subject documents into evidence. Then the habeas corpus court, without viewing them, ruled that the governor wrongfully upheld sufficiency of such documents.

Although Mississippi Code Annotated section 11-43-9 (Supp. 1975) requires that applications for habeas corpus state the ground for relief, the only ground stated in appellee's petition was that he was not a fugitive. In the record is appellant's return on the habeas corpus writ pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 11-43-29 (1972) stating that appellee had been charged with murder in the State of Missouri from which state "Petitioner is a fugitive... ." No evidence was offered to contradict that part of the return stating that appellee had been charged in Missouri.

Upon the record as made, it was error for the trial court to rule that the requirements of 18 U.S.C.A. section 3182 (1969) were not complied with.[1]

II.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Sonkin v. State
824 So. 2d 564 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2002)
Howard Sonkin v. State of Mississippi
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2000
State v. McCurley
627 So. 2d 339 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1993)
Mozingo v. State
562 So. 2d 300 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1990)
Allen v. State
515 So. 2d 890 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1987)
Crumpton v. Owen
376 So. 2d 641 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1979)
Olson v. Thurston
393 A.2d 1320 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1978)
Wilbanks v. State
579 P.2d 132 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1978)
Jacobsen v. State
577 P.2d 24 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1978)
Johnson v. Ledbetter
348 So. 2d 1007 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1977)
Garrison v. Smith
413 F. Supp. 747 (N.D. Mississippi, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
329 So. 2d 506, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-garrison-miss-1976.