120 Misc. 630 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1923
This is an application for a writ of habeas corpus for the discharge of relator on the plea that the certificate of conviction fails to comply with the requirement of section 721 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, that it briefly designate the offense, because it describes the offense merely as “ disorderly conduct.” The certificate is signed by the magistrate who tried the relator. In considering the certificate of conviction it is to be borne in mind that, although occasionally spoken of as a “ commitment,” the exacting rule applicable to a commitment for examination or to answer as prescribed in section 213 et seq. of the Code of Criminal Procedure is not controlling. “ In cases where a party has been tried and convicted of a crime the office of a commitment is superseded by the judgment. The accused may then be detained in custody by virtue of a certified copy of the judgment, and a formal commitment is not necessary, and if necessary can be supplied at any time; but a defect in the commitment is no ground for the discharge of the accused as long as there is a valid judgment of conviction behind it.” People ex rel. Allen v. Hagen, 170 N. Y. 46, 52. “ But we have no doubt that if the minutes of the court furnished to the keeper imperfectly described the crime of which the relator was convicted, he could, upon the return to the writ, show by the records of the court what the precise crime was, and thus that the sentence was regular and legal, and the detention authorized thereby. It is the judgment of the court which authorizes the detention, and that can always be shown in justification-of the detention.” People ex rel. Trainor v. Baker, 89 N. Y. 460, 466. It is suggested, however, that the only judgment pronounced in a Magistrate’s Court is the certificate of conviction itself and that there exists no “ record ” to be examined in its support. Assuming that the judgment of the court is evidenced by the certificate of conviction (People ex rel. Forbes v. Markell, 92 Hun, 286; People ex rel. Kuhn v. P. E. House of Mercy, 133 N. Y. 207), I do not think that it can be successfully maintained that there is no sufficient record for examination in view of sections 108 and 108a of the Inferior Criminal Courts Act (Laws of 1910, chap. 659), providing in section 108 for records
Ordered accordingly.