116 Wash. 572 | Wash. | 1921
On April 25,1921, one Lucile Brown was convicted of the crime of vagrancy, in a justice’s court for King county, and committed by that court
“This cause having come on regularly for hearing before the undersigned, one of the judges of said court, on the 5th day of May, 1921, the petitioner being present in person and represented by Beeler & Sullivan, her attorneys, and the respondent being represented by Chester A. Batchelor, deputy prosecuting attorney, and the matters connected with said petition having been duly advised therein and finding that the petitioner Lucile Brown, was on the 25th day of April, 1921, duly and regularly committed to the women’s industrial home and clinic at Medical Lake, by Honorable C. C. Dalton, justice of the peace, in and for Seattle precinct, King county, state of Washington, and that the respondent, Matt Starwich, sheriff of King county, Washington, has since said 25th day of April, 1921, been holding said petitioner, Lucile Brown, in the county jail of King county, Washington, awaiting a guard from the said women’s industrial home and clinic, and it further appearing that no guard has arrived from said women’s industrial home and clinic, and that more than seven days since the date of her commitment has expired, and it further appearing to. the court that said*574 petitioner should be forthwith removed from the King county jail to the women’s industrial home and clinic at Medical lake, and the court being fully advised in all the facts and premises;
“It is now by the court adjudged and ordered that the petition of said Lucile Brown for a writ of habeas corpus herein be' and the same is hereby denied to which petitioner excepts and exception is hereby allowed.
“It is further ordered by the court that Mrs. Jackson Silbaugh, a satisfactory • and suitable woman be and she is hereby appointed guard of the said Lucile Brown, and said Mrs. Jackson Silbaugh shall be and she is hereby directed and ordered to forthwith take the said Lucile Brown from said King county jail to said women’s industrial home and clinic at Medical lake, Spokane county, Washington, and to deliver her to the superintendent and officials thereof, to which the petitioner excepts and exception is hereby allowed. ’ ’
Pursuant to the order, the guard caused the applicant to be transported to the institution named. She found no one in charge of the institution who would receive the prisoner, whereupon she returned her to the sheriff of King county, making and filing with the court an affidavit as follows:
“Mrs. Jackson Silbaugh, being first duly sworn, upon oath, deposes and says: That she is the duly appointed, qualified and acting traveling guard, appointed by the superior court of King county, state of Washington, for the purpose of accompanying Lucile Brown, sentenced to the women’s industrial home and clinic at Medical lake in Spokane county, state of Washington; that she did, on the 9th day of May, 1921, take said Lucile Brown to said women’s industrial home and clinic at Medical Lake, presented said Lucile Brown to the superintendent of said women’s industrial home and clinic, and requested the superintendent in charge to take charge of said Lucile Brown and care for her in accordance with order directing that said Lucile Brown*575 be sent to women’s industrial home and clinic at Medical lake, in case No. 150869 in the superior court of the state of Washington, for King county; that the superintendent, Margaret Gillam, notified this affiant that said home had been closed and that she would not receive said Lucile Brown as an inmate thereof, and thereupon refused to take over the custody of said Lucile Brown or to permit her to enter said women’s industrial home and clinic. ’ ’
Thereafter, the applicant for the writ, through her attorneys, applied to the court for an order directed to the relator in the proceeding now before us, as the director of business control, commanding him upon a day certain to show cause why he should not be punished as for a contempt of court. The application was accompanied by the affidavit of Lucile Brown, in which she recited in substance the matters hereinbefore stated. The application was heard on May 31, 1921, whereupon the court entered the following order:
“This matter having come on for hearing on the written motion of Beeler & Sullivan, as attorneys for Lucile Brown, and on the sworn affidavit of the said Lucile Brown, for an order directing the Honorable Thomas E. Skaggs as director of business control, one of the state administrative departments of the state of Washington, to show cause why he should not be adjudged as in contempt of court; and it appearing to the court from the affidavit of the said Lucile Brown, which is on file herein, that on or about the 25th day of April, 1921, she was duly and regularly committed to the women’s industrial home and clinic at Medical lake, Spokane county, Washington, as is more clearly shown by Exhibit ‘A’ attached to the affidavit of the said Lucile Brown; and it further appearing to the court that the said Lucile Brown was thereafter, to-wit: on the 6th day of May, 1921, directed by this court to be taken to the said women’s industrial home and clinic, and that thereafter, to-wit, on or about the 9th day of May, 1921, the said Lucile Brown, in custody of*576 a guard appointed by this court to take her to said institution, was thereupon taken by said guard to said women’s industrial home and clinic, and offered to the superintendent in charge thereof, but that said superintendent then aud there neglected, failed and refused and still refuses to take said Lucile Brown and confine her in said institution; and the court being fully advised in the contents of said affidavit, and the records and files in this cause, and having examined the exhibits, and being fully advised in the premises:
“It is now by the court adjudged and ordered that the said Thomas E. Skaggs, as director of business control, be and he is hereby ordered and directed to be and appear before the Honorable Everett Smith, one of the judges of the superior court of King county, state of Washington, in Department No. 8 thereof, on Saturday the 4th day of June, 1921, at the hour of 10:30 o’clock a. m., then and there to show cause, if any he has, why he should not be punished as for contempt of court, for having failed to accept, receive, take and commit the said Lucile Brown to the said women’s industrial home and clinic at the time she was presented by the guard appointed by the court to take and deliver her to said women’s industrial home and clinic.
“It is further ordered that a certified copy of this order may be served upon Thomas E. Skaggs, as director of business control, by any officer of Thurston county competent to make service of process.”
Upon the service of this last mentioned order on the relator, he applied to this court for a writ prohibiting the court from further proceeding with the cause, basing the application upon the ground that the court was acting without and in excess of its jurisdiction. In his petition for the writ, after reciting the proceedings had in the court below, he sets forth—what the court perhaps knows judicially, in any event—that there was no appropriation by the legislative department of the state for the maintenance, during the present biennium, of
“That it was the opinion and conclusion of respondent upon the facts alleged in the affidavit upon which the said order to show cause directed to relator Skaggs herein, dated May 31, 1921, was based, and from all the files and records in said habeas corpus proceedings, that said women’s industrial home and clinic was, at the time of making such order and at the time when said Lucile Brown was taken thereto as aforesaid, actually and lawfully open for the reception of inmates.”
The other ground suggested is likewise pertinent. The relator is a state officer. His, duties are arduous and cover a wide field in state affairs. The charge against him here is in its effect malfeasance of official duty, and a defense to the charge will necessarily take him from the discharge of his official duties for a considerable period of time. Plainly, before the state should be thus deprived of his services, it ought to be clear that the court proceeding against him has jurisdiction to so proceed. We think, therefore, that the ease is one where the relator may rightfully invoke the writ, and we hold that the proceedings are not improvidently taken.
On the principal question involved there is need of but little discussion. Plainly the court is proceeding in excess of its jurisdiction. The proceeding before it was one in habeas corpus by a woman convicted of a crime in a justice court and held under the sentence of that court, who charges that she is detained without authority of law. Doubtless the court, in virtue of the proceedings, had power and authority to inquire into the jurisdiction of the court in which the conviction was had, and into the regularity of the commitment under the judgment of conviction. It had jurisdiction,
Let the alternative writ heretofore issued be made peremptory.
Parker, C. J., Bridges, Main, Holcomb, Tolman, and Mackintosh, JJ., concur.
Mitchell, J., concurs in the result.