24 Minn. 87 | Minn. | 1877
Lead Opinion
The return to the writ issued in this case shows the following facts: At the general term of the district court of the fourth judicial district, begun and holden in and for the county of Hennepin, on the eighth day of May, 1877, a bill of indictment was duly found and presented in said court, by the grand jury of said county, against the.said relator, for the crime of murder. Being then in custody, under commitment theretofore duly issued upon a preliminary examination for the same offence, the relator was duly arraigned upon the indictment, and in answer thereto personally entered the plea of not guilty. A jury was thereupon afterwards duly impanelled to try the indictment. The trial duly proceeded, until the case was submitted to the jury upon the evidence, under the instructions of the court, on the ninth day of June, when the jury retired, under the charge of a sworn officer, to consider their verdict.
The subsequent proceedings thereafter had, as appears from the entries in the minutes of said court, which are made a part of the return, were as follows, viz.: “June 12, 1877.
“Saturday, June 23, 1877. The defendant in this case having been brought into open court, in custody, the motion to amend the minutes of the court, so as to show that the defendant was not present in court when the jury in the case was discharged, was renewed by defendant’s counsel, which said motion was denied by the court, and defendant’s counsel excepted to the ruling of the court. Defendant’s counsel thereupon moved that the court, by virtue of the authority vested in it, discharge the defendant from custody in furtherance of justice, upon the grounds that the discharge of the jury, under the circumstances under which it was made, operated as an acquittal. 'Which, motion, after argument by counsel, was taken under advisement by the court. ”
“June 28, 1877. The defendant in this case having been
Upon these proceedings the defendant herein now holds the relator in custody, by virtue of the said indictment, and the said orders of the said district court, remanding her to his custody as the sheriff of said county, and the keeper of its jail.
In answer to such return the relator makes no issue upon the truth of the matters therein stated, but seeks to raise the issue that the action of the court in discharging the jury was had in the enforced absence of the defendant in the indictment, and to prove such fact by affidavits; claiming that the court exceeded its authority in so discharging the jury, and that the effect of such improper discharge was the same as a verdict of not guilty, precluding a re-trial of the indictment before another jury.
Conceding the correctness of both these propositions of the relator, viz.: That the court erred in discharging the jury, and that such discharge operated as an acquittal, (concerning which, however, no opinion need be expressed,) the question arises whether further detention of the prisoner on the indictment, by order of the court, after such discharge, became by reason of this error illegal in that sense, that she would be entitled to her absolute discharge on habeas corpus. In other words, is this alleged error cognizable on habeas corpus by
By section 42, c. 80, Gen. St., which seems to have been literally copied from the New York statute, (2 N. Y. R. S. 2d Ed. p. 471,) a party brought up on a habeas corpus “may deny any of the material facts set forth in the return, or allege any fact to show either that his imprisonment or detention is unlawful, or that he is entitled to his discharge.” In other words, the existence of the alleged process, judgment, or proceeding, under which the relator is claimed to be held, may be controverted, its validity may be questioned, the jurisdiction of the court, or officer commanding the imprisonment, to issue the process or render the judgment may be contested, and any ex post facto matter, such as a pardon after conviction and sentence, may also be set up, showing that the alleged cause of imprisonment has become inoperative, and of no further force or effect. As a general rule, deducible from all the authorities to which we have been cited or of which we have any knowledge, these are the only matters, either in the way of denial or avoidance, which the party seeking an absolute discharge from imprisonment on criminal process, in a case like this, can properly raise or put in issue by the answer which the statute allows him to make to the return to the writ. See the valuable and exhaustive note of Mr. Hill, to the McLeod Case, 3 Hill, 647, et seq., cited with aproval in the recent case of People ex rel. Tweed v. Liscomb, 60 N. Y. 559; Hurd on Habeas Corpus, bk. 2, c. 6, § 2, p. 331, et seq.; Petition of Semler, 41 Wis. 517.
In the case before us the existence of the facts stated in the return is not denied, and the validity of the indictment is unquestioned. Neither is it disputed that the district court regularly and lawfully acquired jurisdiction over the person of the accused, who was properly arraigned and put upon trial under the indictment.
Under the constitution and laws the district court, being
The fact, therefore, if it be one, that the court improperly • discharged the jury in the enforced absence of the prisoner, did not dispossess the court of its jurisdiction over the cause. If so, any further step or proceeding in the action was wholly nugatory, and the only judgment that could have, been rendered was one of dismissal for want of jurisdiction, instead of a judgment upon the merits, which alone could furnish any protection to the defendant against another prosecution for the same offence. If, then, the view of relator’s counsel is correct, as to the effect of the action of the court in discharging the jury, his proper remedy undoubtedly was in an application to the trial court, by motion or otherwise, for the like judgment as upon a verdict of not guilty. And this appears to have been the view taken of the matter by counsel at the time, as such a motion, in effect, was made, overruled, and excepted to. In case the latter decision was erroneous, the error is reviewable, and can be corrected whenever the record is properly brought before us for that purpose. Until this is done, both it and the decision discharging the
Fully agreeing with the doctrine of that case upon this point, it follows that no inquiry can be had in this proceeding whether the relator was in fact present or absent when the jury was discharged from the further consideration of the indictment, nor whether the decision of the trial court in discharging them was correct or incorrect.
The prisoner has therefore been remanded to the custody of the sheriff of said Hennepin county.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring. I concur in the decision of ■ this case on the ground that where a party’s right to be released from arrest is to be determined upon the proceedings