Goto v. Lane

• Decision Date: 02 June 1924
• Docket Number: No. 463,463
• Citation: 44 S.Ct. 525,68 L.Ed. 1070,265 U.S. 393
• Parties: GOTO et al. v. LANE, High Sheriff of Hawan
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

265 U.S. 393

44 S.Ct. 525

68 L.Ed. 1070

GOTO et al.

v LANE, High Sheriff of Hawan.

No. 463.

Argued Feb. 28 and 29, 1924.

Decided June 2, 1924.

Mr. Thomas W. Gregory, of Washington, D. C., for appellants.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 394-397 intentionally omitted] Mr. Frederick Milverton, of Washington, D. C., for appellee.

Mr. Justice VAN DEVANTER delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the District Court of Hawaii refusing a writ of habeas corpus sought by 13 persons in custody under a judgment of conviction in a territorial circuit court on an indictment for an infamous crime against the laws of that territory.

In stating the offense, the indictment used the disjunctive 'or' in several instances where the conjunctive 'and' doubtless would have been used by an attentive draftsman. Had the matter introduced by the disjunctive been omitted in each instance, or had it been introduced by a conjunctive, the indictment plainly would have stated an offense against the statute under which it was drawn. But in the latter of these situations the accusation and the range of admissible proof would have been broader than in the former. The indictment was not assailed in the circuit court because of any uncertainty in the accusation. On the contrary, the defendants and their counsel stipulated in writing with the prosecuting officer that the indictment should be 'considered and understood' as 'reading in the conjunctive instead in the disjunctive,' that it should be taken as 'not uncertain,' and that any defect arising from the use of the disjunctive was waived. The circuit judge indorsed his approval on the stipulation, and it was filed in the cause; but no change was made in the indictment itself. The trial was had thereafter, counsel and the court proceeding as if the disjunctive rightly should be construed and understood as a conjunctive.

After conviction, the petitioners took the case to the Supreme Court of the territory on various exceptions reserved to rulings in the course of the trial. In that court one of their attorneys contended, over the disapproval of another, that the indictment was made so uncertain by the use of the disjunctive that it did not inform the petitioners of the nature and cause of the accusation as required by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, and that the stipulation was void under the Fifth Amendment because the indictment was thereby amended without a resubmission to the grand jury. The Supreme Court, referring to these contentions, said:

'We are of the opinion that the stipulation in question cannot be construed as amounting to an amendment of the indictment. The trial court did express its approval of the stipulation and of the waiver contained therein, but it did not amend the indictment or attempt or purport to do so. * * * If it might under other circumstances reasonably be said that, by reason of the allegations in question being in the disjunctive, instead of the conjunctive, there was some doubt as to what crime defendants were charged with, does it not expressly appear in this case that not a vestige of doubt exists, when the defendants themselves have distinctly and unequivocally said, and their counsel learned in the law have solemnly stipulated and agreed in writing, that neither the defendants nor their counsel had any doubt whatever of the nature of the accusation against the defendants?'

And again:

'As to whether, if an indictment palpably stated no offense at all or the semblance of any offense, an accused could waive his right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him, under the facts in the present case we are not required to say. There are, indeed, many authorities to the effect that an indictment which, in seeking to inform the accused of the nature and cause of the accusation against him, charges the offense in the disjunctive instead of the conjunctive, is bad, upon the theory that it charges no offense at all. But, as pointed out in Territory v. Kim Ung Pil, 26 Hawaii, 725, even the courts which so hold concede that the rule is not without qualifications. Its merits need not be here considered. * * * When, as in the case at bar, the defendants and their able counsel have solemnly said to the court, after ample time for study and reflection, that they understand the indictment, that the presence of the word 'or' does not mislead them or in any wise embarrass them in their defense and that the indictment fully informs them of the nature and terms of the charge against them, the alleged insufficiency or defectiveness of the indictment is one which may be constitutionally waived. Any other conclusion would, we think, be an affront to justice and common sense.'

The Supreme Court overruled the exceptions, but did not render a judgment of affirmance, for under the local law that was not admissible in cases brought before the court only on exceptions reserved. Therefore...