45 F. 352 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of New Jersey | 1891
The facts in this case, as they appear on the petition for the writ of habeas corpus, and in the return made by the respondent to the said writ, are these: In 1881 William A. Hall, the petitioner, was chief clerk in the office of the comptroller of the city of Newark, in the state of New Jersey, and as such it was his duty to receive moneys paid in settlement of taxes duly levied and assessed as the same became due, and to keep a true account of the said receipts of moneys in the books of the comptroller, for that purpose provided. While acting in this capacity Hall committed the crime of forgery, as it was alleged; the felonious acts consisting — First, in the making, uttering, and passing a certain check or order for the payment of money upon the National State Bank of Newark, payable to the order of one William H. Winans, for the sum of $270; and, secondly, in the fraudulent alteration of the cash-book and accounts kept by him in the office of the comptroller of the city of Newark, whereby an entry therein of $562.32 of cash received by him for taxes on the 18th day of March, 1881, was made to read and appear as $362.32. At the December term, 1881, of the court of oyer and terminer held in and for the county of Essex, having jurisdiction of the crime of forgery, the grand inquest formally presented against Hall a bill of indictment, charging him with the forgery of the check. In the mean time Hall had become a fugitive from justice, having fled to Canada, and it therefore became necessary for proceedings in extradition to be had against him, that he might be brought back to New Jersey for trial. Accordingly, in due form of law, and pursuant to the treaty between the United States and Great Britain, ratified in 1844, relating to the extradition of persons charged with crime fleeing from one country to the other, such proceedings were begun, and were carried forward regularly, so far as the arrest of Hall upon proper complaint of the agent of the United States, by the authorities- in Canada, and the subsequent examination before the proper Canadian tribunal, to
The following is the statement in the warrant of the alleged crime, to answer to which Hall was rendered to the United States authorities:
“That he, the said William A. Hall, did commit the crimes of forgery and utterance of forged paper within the jurisdiction of the United States of America, to-wit, at the city of Newark, in the state of New Jersey, one of the United States of America, for that he, the said William A. Hall, on the eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one, at the city of Newark, aforesaid, did feloniously forge a certain account and book of the comptroller of the city of Newark, aforesaid, with intent to defraud by feloniously and willfully altering, for a certain purpose of fraud, the account of moneys received by the said comptroller on the said eighteenth day of March aforesaid, at page number 271 of cash-book K of the said comptroller, from the sum of $562.32 to the sum of $362.32; and, also, for that he, the said William A. Hail, on the eighteenth clay of*354 March, aforesaid, at the city of Newark, aforesaid, did feloniously utter, knowing the same to be forged, the aforesaid forged account and book, with intent to defraud. ”
Under and by virtue of this warrant Hall was delivered by the Canadian authorities into the custody of one John T. River, who was duly authorized and commissioned by the president of the United States to receive him, and by him Hall was brought to Newark, N. J., and delivered into the custody of the proper officer, to await his trial for the crimes for which he had been extradited. Such trial speedily followed the extradition. It resulted in a verdict of guilty against Hall, as he stood charged, and he was sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor in the state-prison for a term of 10 years. The conviction was on the 19th day of May, 1883. Sentence was pronounced on the 4th day of April, 1884, and the petitioner is now in confinement, undergoing that sentence. The petitioner claims that his confinement is illegal, and contrary to law, and that he is entitled to his discharge therefrom; and to obtain that he has sued out this writ of habeas corpus.
He assigns two reasons for his discharge: (1) That he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to punishment for a crime different from that for which he had been rendered to this government. (2) That the longest term of imprisonment which can be imposed upon one guilty of forgery is 10 years; that such imprisonment is to be imposed immediately upon conviction of the offense; that he was convicted May 19, 1883, but sentence was deferred until April 4, 1884, during which time he was in confinement in the common jail of Essex county,- so that the whole term of his imprisonment became 10 years and 11 months, and was therefore illegal, as unwarranted by law; that he is entitled to have the 11 months of confinement in jail deducted from the term of 10 years imposed, and, such deduction being made, and the time allowed to be deducted by the law of New Jersey from a term of imprisonment for good behavior being also deducted, his term of imprisonment expires on the 4th day of March, 1891.
1. It is perfectly well settled that a defendant in criminal proceedings, extradited from a foreign country, can be tried only for that offense with which he was charged in the extradition proceedings, and for which he was delivered up; and, if not tried for that, or if he be tried and acquitted, he is entitled to have granted to him a reasonable time in which to leave the country before he can be arrested and held to answer for any other crime committed before extradition. U. S. v. Rauscher, 119 U. S. 407, 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 234. If, therefore, the allegation of the petitioner were true that he was tried, convicted, and sentenced' for a crime different or variant from that for which he was extradited, he would be entitled, undoubtedly, to his discharge. But, unfortunately for him, this allegation is not only not sustained, but is wholly contradicted, by the facts-in this case. The return to the writ of habeas corpus made by the respondent, as keeper of the New Jersey state-prison, states that the petitioner is now held in custody by him under and by virtue of a judgment and sentence of the court of oyer and terminer of the county of Essex, upon
Counsel for the petitioner ingeniously contended upon the argument that, as the proceedings in extradition were based originally upon the forgery of the cheek, all subsequent proceedings involving a change in the complaint against Hall, and a substitution of the criminal act of altering the figures of a cash account for the previous criminal act of forging a chock, wore irregular and void, and therefore could not be made the basis of those proceedings which resulted finally in the actual extradition oí the petitioner. But such contention cannot ho considered well grounded. The complaint of the petitioner is that his rights have been disregarded in being subjected to a trial upon a charge different from that alleged against him in Canada, and to answer which he was surrendered by the Canadian authorities. What was the charge upon which he was thus surrendered? The very best evidence of the nature and character of that charge is to he found in the official statement thereof as made by the surrendering authorities in the warrant of surrender. The warrant speaks purposely on this subject in tones that cannot be misunderstood or contradicted. It expresses as well the conclusion of the foreign government as to the nature of the act charged as its judgment of the advisability and the duty of the surrender. The great seal affixed thereto imports absolute verity of the statements. The surrender is made only because the act or acts alleged therein render the defendant actor liable to extradition. There may have been many other acts, criminal in their
But the contention of the petitioner is not only unsound, but it has no groundwork of facts to rest upon. It is apparent he has forgotten the important fact that the original charge of a forgery of a check in the extradition proceedings wasTormally withdrawn and abandoned by the complainants. The return to the writ of habeas corpus, as made by the respondent, states succinctly this abandonment, and the causes which led up to such action, and sets out in extenso the proceedings in extradition under the new complaint of forging and altering the books of the comptroller, and charges that in fact the petitioner was extradited under the latter charge. As, under the statute, he had a right to traverse the return if he saw fit, but has failed to exercise such right, the return must be taken as true and conclusive. Evans v. McEwen, 5 Crim. Law Mag. 747; People v. Protectory, 106 N. Y. 604, 13 N. E. Rep. 435.
2. The second cause assigned for the discharge of the petitioner from confinement is that, while the statute of New Jersey limits the term of imprisonment upon conviction for forgery of 10 years, this petitioner, by reason of the delay in the pronouncing of his sentence by the court in which he was convicted, during which delay he was in confinement, will be kept in confinement a term of 10 years and 11 months. The facts are these: The.defendant was convicted of the crime of forgery on the 19th day of May, 1883. He was not sentenced until the 4th day of April, 1884. In the mean time he was in confinement in the common jail of Essex county. This delay in sentence was caused, it is stated, by the interposition by the petitioner of special pleas in liar to indictments for embezzlement'which had been presented against him, and which issues, so raised, were by the Essex county court of oyer and terminer certified to the supreme court of New Jersey for its advisory opinion. It is not denied, that, immediately upon the rendition of its opin
The motion to discharge the petitioner from confinement is refused, the petition is dismissed, and the petitioner is remanded to the custody of the respondent, as keeper of the New Jersey state-prison.