United States of America Ex Rel. Marvin Moses v. William W. Kipp. Sr., United States Marshal

232 F.2d 147, 1956 U.S. App. LEXIS 3010
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedApril 17, 1956
Docket11614_1
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 232 F.2d 147 (United States of America Ex Rel. Marvin Moses v. William W. Kipp. Sr., United States Marshal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States of America Ex Rel. Marvin Moses v. William W. Kipp. Sr., United States Marshal, 232 F.2d 147, 1956 U.S. App. LEXIS 3010 (7th Cir. 1956).

Opinion

DUFFY, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal from an order granting a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and discharging the Relator, Marvin Moses, from the custody of the United States Marshal.

On January 8, 1954, Marvin Moses was indicted in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, for the unlawful purchase and possession of 82.19 ounces of heroin in violation of Section 2553(a) Title 26, U. S.Code. After arrest Moses was released on bail. While on bail, Moses was convicted in a State court of Michigan of the offense of “attempted bribery”, and was sentenced to the House of Correction at Plymouth, Michigan, 1 for a period of six months.

On October 11, 1955, pursuant to arrangements previously made between the Governments of the United States and of the State of Michigan, the United States ' filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.' The petition prayed that the writ be directed to the Warden of the Detroit House of Correction, and that when the trial of Moses before the United States District Court shall have terminated that Moses be returned forthwith to the Detroit House of Correction under safe and secure conduct.

On the same day, the District Court issued the writ pursuant to Title 28 U.S. Code, § 2241(c) (5) which, among other things, provided: “* * * and at the termination of said trial before said Court, the aforesaid Marvin Moses be returned forthwith to the Detroit House *149 of Correction at Plymouth, Michigan, under safe and secure conduct.”

The writ was honored by the Michigan authorities and in due course Moses was surrendered by the Warden of the Detroit House of Correction to the United States Marshal after having served twenty-six days of his Michigan sentence. The result of his trial in the United States District Court was that he was convicted and sentenced to the custody of the Attorney General of the United States for a term of imprisonment of five years plus a fine of $100.00.

The Marshal was preparing to return Moses to the Michigan authorities when Moses filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. This petition alleged that Moses was detained in the custody of the Marshal who intended to return him to Michigan to serve the unexpired portion of the sentence of six months in the House of Correction. It further alleged that Moses had been released from custody by the Warden of the Detroit House of Correction without Moses’ consent and over his protest, and that there had been a relinquishment of jurisdiction over him. On November 22, 1955, the District Court sustained the writ, filed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and ordered that Moses be discharged from the custody of the Marshal.

The Findings of Fact recited that the indictment of Moses in the United States District Court antedated by several months his arrest and conviction in the Michigan court; that Moses did not consent to be turned over to the federal authorities; that Moses was advised he would not be given credit on his Michigan sentence for the time he was out of the custody of Michigan authorities; that no law-enforcement agent of Michigan accompanied Moses to the District Court in Illinois; that Moses was in the sole custody of the United States Marshal and was confined in the County Jail of Cook County, Illinois, pending his return to Michigan.

As a Conclusion of Law the Court held the Marshal was without authority in detaining Moses for the purpose of transporting him to Michigan to serve the unexpired sentence imposed on him in that State prior to serving the sentence imposed by the United States Court. In •the order which the District Court entered, the Marshal was specifically directed not to return Moses to the custody of the Warden of the Detroit House of Correction. The Marshal appealed forthwith to this Court and we stayed the execution of the District Court’s order pending appeal and review.

Moses argues here that at the time he was arrested for the Michigan offense he was under the jurisdiction of the United States District Court. He insists that during the entire period after his arrest while being held for trial, and when he was convicted and sentenced by the Circuit Court of Wayne County, Michigan, he was, as a matter of law, under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He attaches significance to the fact that when he was released by the Warden of the House of Correction in Michigan, no prison officer of that State accompanied him to Illinois. He argues that such turning over of his custody amounted to a full surrender of jurisdiction over him.

In this country we all live in territory subject to two sovereignties, the Federal Government and the government of the respective States. Each has jurisdiction to enforce its laws in a common territory. The situation is fraught with possibilities of conflict. It is imperative that each system of law enforcement be effective. “ * * * The situation requires, * * * a spirit of reciprocal comity and mutual assistance * * Ponzi v. Fessenden, 258 U.S. 254, 259, 42 S.Ct. 309, 310, 66 L.Ed. 607.

Where one accused of crime has offended against both Federal and State laws, the imposition of a long term by one of the sovereignties might greatly interfere with the orderly administration of justice in the other. With the passage of time, witnesses may disappear or their memories become dim. Further *150 more, the prisonér has a constitutional right to a speedy trial. Hence, the writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum has been utilized to bring a prisoner incarcerated under sentence by one sovereignty to trial for alleged violation of the laws of the other sovereignty.

The writ was recognized in the early case of Ex parte Bollman, 1807, 4 Cranch 75, 8 U.S. 75, 2 L.Ed. 554, and now exists by virtue of Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 2241(c) (5). A good statement of the operation and extent of the writ appears in Lunsford v. Hudspeth, 10 Cir., 126 F.2d 653, 655: “ * * * The privileges granted by this flexible rule of comity should and must be respected by the sovereignty to which it is made available, and this respectful duty is reciprocal, whether federal or state, because neither sovereignty has the power to override it. Under the free exercise of this rule, no right or immunity granted by the constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States, is invaded or impaired.”

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois could not have compelled the State of Michigan to surrender Moses after he had been incarcerated in that state for violation of a Michigan law. In spite of the terminology of the writ, the consent of Michigan authorities was necessary to obtain the custody of Moses.

The fact that Moses had been enlarged on bail after arraignment in the Federal Court does not change the rule which has been applied in many cases. In Hebert v. Louisiana, 272 U.S. 312, 47 S.Ct. 103, 71 L.Ed.

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Bluebook (online)
232 F.2d 147, 1956 U.S. App. LEXIS 3010, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-of-america-ex-rel-marvin-moses-v-william-w-kipp-sr-ca7-1956.