United States ex rel. Miller v. Walsh

90 F. Supp. 332, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1832
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 13, 1949
DocketNo. 48-C-1749
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 90 F. Supp. 332 (United States ex rel. Miller v. Walsh) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States ex rel. Miller v. Walsh, 90 F. Supp. 332, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1832 (N.D. Ill. 1949).

Opinion

IGOE, District Judge.

This proceeding was commenced by Raymond Miller filing a petition in this court for writ of habeas corpus to obtain his discharge from the custody of the Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, by whom the petitioner is being held for extradition to the State of Michigan, to answer the charge of assault with intent to rob — armed. The extradition proceedings arose in the following manner:

On July 8, 1947, a complaint was filed in the Police Court of Grand Rapids, Michigan, duly executed and verified by Walter Coe, charging the petitioner with having committed, on the 9th day of March, 1947, a felonious assault with intent to rob and steal, while armed, in violation of the laws of the State of Michigan. Upon the filing of the complaint, the Judge of the Police Court of Grand Rapids, Michigan, issued a warrant for the relator’s arrest. The warrant recites the offense charged in the verified complaint. The complaint and warrant, together with the affidavits of Walter Coe, a police officer of Grand Rapids, and Menso R. Bolt, the prosecuting attorney for the County in Michigan, in which Grand Rapids is located, were forwarded to the Governor of Michigan with a request for the requisition of the petitioner from the State of Illinois.

On July 25, 1947, the Governor of the State of Michigan issued his duly executed certificate, with the above described complaint and warrant attached thereto, certifying them to be authentic and duly authenticated in accordance with the laws of the State of Michigan, and requesting the Governor of the State of Illinois to apprehend the relator and to deliver him to Walter Coe, who was authorized to receive the relator and to convey him to the State of Michigan to answer the offense charged in the complaint. The affidavits of Coe and Bolt accompanied the request for requisition.

[334]*334The evidence shows that the Governor of the State of Illinois caused the petitioner to be arrested in Chicago, Illinois, and then granted the request of the Governor of the State of Michigan for the rendition of the petitioner to that State, upon the documents above referred to. Petitioner was remanded to the Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, to be delivered.to the Agent of the State of Michigan. Thereupon, petitioner filed a petition in the Criminal Court of Cook County, Illinois, for a writ of habeas corpus to obtain his release. That petition was denied; whereupon petitioner filed the instant petition in this court requesting the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus to obtain his discharge from custody under the order of extradition which has been entered by the Governor of the State of Illinois.

In the instant petition for habeas corpus, petitioner charges that he is not 'a fugitive from Justice in the State of Michigan; that he did not commit the crime for which he was ordered extradited; that the authenticated complaint filed with the Governor of the State of Illinois is not a valid indictment or affidavit made before a Magistrate as required by the statutes of the United States; that the warrant of extradition was issued on information based only on the information and belief of the City Attorney of Grand Rapids, Michigan; that the extradition proceedings were not instituted and prosecuted in good faith; and that the papers and documents filed with the Governor of the State of Illinois were not in proper form and do not comply with the Federal Statutes.

The petition further charges that the petitioner was not physically present in the State of Michigan on the date of the offense as charged in the duly authenticated complaint, namely, March 9, 1947, and that this fact was conceded by the Agent of the Governor of the State of Michigan at the hearing on the petition for habeas corpus in the Criminal Court of Cook County, Illinois.

Extradition proceedings are controlled by Article 4, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States, and by Section 5278 of the Revised Statutes, 18 U.S.C.A. § 662 [1948 Revised Criminal Code, 18 U.S.C.A. § 3182], Section 5278 of the Revised Statutes provides: “Whenever the executive authority of any State or Territory demands any person as a fugitive from justice, of the executive authority of any State or Territory to which such person has fled, and produces a copy of an indictment found or an affidavit made before a magistrate of any State or Territory, charging the person demanded with having committed treason, felony, or ocher crime, certified as authentic by the gov;rnor or chief magistrate of the State or Territory from whence the person so charged has fled, it shall be the duty of the execulive authority of the State or Territory to which such person has fled to cause him to be arrested and secured, and to cause notice of the arrest to be given to the executive authority making such démand, or to the agent of such authority appointed to receive the fugitive, and to cause the fugitive to be delivered to such agent when he shall appear. If no such agent appears wit bin six months from the time of thé arrest, the prisoner may be discharged. All costs or expenses incurred in the apprehending, securing, and transmitting such fugitive to the State or Territory making such demand, shall be paid by such State or Terr tory.”

Considering first the petitioner’s contention that the documents which were forwarded by the Goverr.or of the State of Michigan to the Governor of the State of Illinois for the extradition of the petitioner are not in proper form and do not comply with the federal statutes. In support of this contention, petitioner cites the cases of Ex parte Hart, 4 C.r., 63 F. 249, 28 L.R.A. 801, and U. S. ex rel. McCline v. Meyering, 7 Cir., 75 F.2d 7, 6. The case of Ex parte Hart involved the question of the sufficiency of an information as the basis for extradition proceedings. The information was verified only upon information and belief. The Court held that under the Statute governing extradition proceedings, the request for extradition must be based upon an indictment or an affidavit made before a magistrate charging the crime and that an information verified only upon information and belief did not satisfy the [335]*335requirements of the statute. The case of United States ex rel. McCline v. Meyering holds that extradition should not be granted solely upon a verified warrant which is not supported by the indictment or affidavit specified in the Statute; and that the Federal Statute was enacted so as to insure a person of his liberty until the requirements of the statute had been fulfilled.

In the instant case the extradition proceedings are based upon a positive complaint filed before the Judge of the Police Court of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, charging the petitioner with having committed the crime of assault with intent to rob — armed, in violation of a specific criminal statute enacted by the Stale of Michigan. The complaint is duly signed and sworn to by Walter Coe before the Judge o'f the Police Court of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The complaint and the warrant issued thereon for the apprehension of the petitioner, were duly certified as authentic by the Governor of the State of Michigan to the Governor of the State of Illinois with the request that the petitioner be apprehended and delivered to the Agent of the State of Michigan to be dealt with according to law. Clearly, the complaint, which states the offense in positive terms and is duly sworn to by the affiant, complies with the provisions of the federal statute. See in the Matter of Strauss, 197 U.S. 324, at page 331, 25 S.Ct. 535, at page 537, 49 L.Ed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
90 F. Supp. 332, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1832, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-ex-rel-miller-v-walsh-ilnd-1949.