People ex rel. Natoli v. Lewis

• Decision Date: 05 March 1942
• Citation: 287 N.Y. 478,41 N.E.2d 62
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. NATOLI v. LEWIS, Sheriff, et al.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

287 N.Y. 478

41 N.E.2d 62

PEOPLE ex rel. NATOLI

v.LEWIS, Sheriff, et al.

Court of Appeals of New York.

March 5, 1942.

Appeal from Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department.

Habeas corpus proceeding by the People of the State of New York on the relation of Angelo Natoli against Neil D. Lewis, sheriff of Chenango County. From an order 262 App.Div. 347, 29 N.Y.S.2d 544, of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Third Judicial Department, which reversed on the law and the facts an order of the court at Special Term (McNaught, J.) dismissing writ of habeas corpus and remanding the relator to the custody of the sheriff and which sustained the writ and directed the discharge of the relator, and from an order of the Appellate Division which granted a motion of the relator for an order fixing bail of relator pending determination by the Appellate Division of the appeal from the order of the Special Term dismissing the writ of habeas corpus, Neil D. Lewis as sheriff and the People of the State of New York appeal.

Order of Appellate Division sustaining writ of habeas corpus reversed and order of Special Term dismissing writ and remanding relator to custody of sheriff affirmed and appeal from order fixing bail dismissed. John J. Bennett, Jr., Atty. Gen. (Henry Epstein, of Albany, and Everett D. Mereness and Patrick H. Clune, Asst. Attys. Gen., of counsel), for appellants.

William J. Gordon, of Norwich, for respondent.

CONWAY, Judge.

On the face of the facts disclosed by this proceeding, the applicable rules of law seem potentially harsh but are, nevertheless, so clear that they must be followed. The facts are these: In May of 1932 the relator was convicted of the crime of burglary in the third degree and was sentenced to Elmira Reformatory. The maximum term of imprisonment possible under that conviction was ten years. He was paroled in December, 1933, and continued to be on parole until August, 1940, when he was arrested, and subsequently indicted, for the crime of robbery in the first degree. Three months later a jury in the County Court of Chenango County rendered a verdict of not guilty upon his trial on the indictment.

In the meantime, and on the day following relator's arrest, a warrant was issued for his retaking as a paroled prisoner by a member of the Board of Parole and was delivered to the Sheriff of Chenango county.

The warrant recited that the member of the Board of Parole had ‘reasonable cause to believe that Angelo Natoli, a prisoner of the State of New York, conditionally paroled from Elmira Reformatory and now in the legal custody of the Warden or Superintendent thereof, has violated his parole and has lapsed or is probably about to lapse, into criminal ways or company * * *’ and ordered that the prisoner be retaken and returned to Elmira Reformatory and into the actual custody of the warden or superintendent.

The warrant was issued under the following circumstances: The Chief of Police of Norwich, N. Y., telephoned an employee of the Parole Board in Binghamton, N. Y., and told him that the relator was being held on an information charging robbery in the first degree. The employee telephoned that fact to a member of the Board of Parole in Buffalo, N. Y., who signed and issued the warrant.

After the acquittal or relator, the present proceeding was instituted to obtain his release. No formal return to the writ was filed, the facts being undisputed, and the matter was heard summarily by consent upon those undisputed facts....