Arthur Appleyard v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts

• Decision Date: 03 December 1906
• Docket Number: No. 115,115
• Citation: 203 U.S. 222,51 L.Ed. 161,27 S.Ct. 122
• Parties: ARTHUR E. APPLEYARD, Appt., v. COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

203 U.S. 222

27 S.Ct. 122

51 L.Ed. 161

ARTHUR E. APPLEYARD, Appt.,

v COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.

No. 115.

Submitted November 16, 1906.

Decided December 3, 1906.

The appellant was indicted in the supreme court of New York, county of Erie, for the crime of grand larceny, first degree, alleged to have been committed in that county on the 18th day of May, 1904.

Upon that indictment a warrant of arrest was issued, but the accused was not arrested, for the reason that he was not found within the state.

Then the district attorney of Erie county applied to the governor of New York for a requisition upon the governor of Massachusetts for Appleyard as a fugitive from justice. The application was based upon the above indictment and numerous accompanying affidavits, stating, among other things, that the accused was then in Massachusetts. A requisition was accordingly made upon the governor of that commonwealth for the apprehension of Appleyard, and his delivery to a named agent of New York, who was authorized to receive and convey him to the latter state, to be there dealt with according to law. With that requisition went properly authenticated copies of all the papers which had been submitted to the governor of New York by the district attorney of Erie county.

The governor of Massachusetts received the requisition, and, pursuant to the statutes of that commonwealth, referred it to the attorney general for examination and report. Giving the accused full opportunity to be heard and to introduce evidence, of which he availed himself, that officer examined the case and reported that the requisition was in regular and proper form and that there was no sufficient reason why it should not be honored. The governor thereupon issued a warrant for the arrest of Appleyard and his delivery to the agent of New York, to be taken to that state, the officer who should execute the warrant being required to give the accused such opportunity to sue out a writ of habeas corpus as was prescribed by the laws of Massachusetts in such cases. Appleyard, having been arrested applied for a writ of habeas corpus to the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts. This fact is stated in the return of the officer holding the accused, and is not denied. That court, after hearing an argument, denied the application, and remanded the petitioner to the custody of the agent of New York, to be held in accordance with the warrant issued by the governor of Massachusetts.

The accused then applied to the circuit court of the United States for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that the warrant of the governor of Massachusetts and the order for his delivery to the agent of New York were issued without authority of law, and contrary to the Constitution and laws, as well of the United States as of Massachusetts, and 'especially contrary to § 2, article 4, of the Constitution of the United States, and of § 5278 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 3597), in that your petitioner is not a fugitive from justice.' The writ was issued and a return was made of the above facts.

At the hearing in the circuit court the accused requested a ruling that, on the evidence, it did not appear that, within the meaning of the Constitution and laws of the United States, he was a fugitive from justice, and, also, that he should be discharged from custody unless it appeared positively, by a preponderance of proof, that he 'consciously fled from justice when he left the state of New York.' Those requests were denied. But the court granted a request that the finding by the governor of Massachusetts as a fact that the accused was a fugitive from justice was not conclusive. The court refused to find, as facts, that the acts of Appleyard did not constitute a crime under the laws of New York; that no crime was committed by him in that state; and that Appleyard was not in New York on May 18th, 1904, the date of the alleged crime. It consequently discharged the writ of habeas corpus. From that order the present appeal was prosecuted.

Messrs. Benjamin S. Minor and Fred H. Williams for appellant.

Messrs. Dana Malone and Frederic B. Greenhalge for appellee.

Mr. Justice Harlan delivered the opinion of the court:

It cannot be said that the appellant has not had ample opportunity to test the question whether his detention was in violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States. He has had three hearings upon that question; first, before the executive authorities of Massachusetts, then before the supreme judicial court of that commonwealth, and finally before the circuit court of the United States. Upon each occasion he insisted that, within the meaning of the Constitution and laws of the United States, he could not be regarded as a fugitive from justice. The decision at each hearing was adverse to that contention, and, unless this court reverses the judgment of the circuit court, he must stand his trial upon the charge that he committed a crime against the laws of New York. In view of the history of this case from the time of the demand upon the governor of Massachusetts for the surrender of the appellant, this court should hesitate, by disturbing the ruling below, to further delay the administration by New York of its criminal laws through its own judicial tribunals. Regularly, the accused should have prosecuted a writ of error to the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts before invoking the jurisdiction of the circuit court of the United States upon habeas corpus. Ex parte Royall, 117 U. S. 241, 251-253, 29 L. ed. 868, 871, 872, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 734; Markuson v. Boucher, 175 U. S. 184, 44 L. ed. 124, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 76; Minnesota v. Brundage, 180 U. S. 499, 502, 45 L. ed. 639, 640, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 455; Reid v. Jones, 187 U. S. 153, 47 L. ed. 116, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 89. But, in view of the long time which has elapsed since the governor of New York made his requisition for the surrender of the accused, and as the case is one which the public interests demand should be speedily determined, we think the ends of justice will be promoted if we proceed to a final judgment on this appeal.

Upon a careful scrutiny of the record we discover no ground for the assertion that the detention of the appellant is in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States. The crime with which he is charged is alleged in the indictment to have been committed at Buffalo, New York, on May 18th, 1904. It is, we think, abundantly established by the evidence that he was personally present in that city on that day, and that thereafter he left New York, although there was some evidence to the effect that on the particular day named he was not in the state. In his own affidavit, submitted and accepted as evidence, the accused specified several days when he was in Buffalo, prior to and subsequent to May 18th, 1904, but, as stated by the attorney general of Massachusetts in his report to the governor of that commonwealth, there was in that affidavit no statement directly denying that he was in New York at the time and place indicated in the indictment.

But the appellant contended below, as he does here, that he had no belief when leaving New York at any time that he had violated its criminal laws, and therefore, within the meaning of the Constitution and laws of the United States, he could not be deemed a fugitive from its justice. This contention cannot be sustained; indeed, it could not be sustained without materially impairing the efficacy of the constitutional and statutory provisions relating to fugitives from justice. An alleged fugitive may believe that he has not committed any crime against the laws of the state in which he is indicted and yet, according to the laws of such state, as administered by its judicial tribunals, he may have done so, and his belief or want of belief may be without foundation in law. It is the province of the courts of New York to declare what its laws are, and to determine whether particular acts on the part of an alleged offender constitute a crime under such laws. The constitutional provision that a person charged with crime against the laws of a state, and who flees from its justice, must be delivered up on proper demand, is sufficiently comprehensive to embrace any offense, whatever its nature, which the state, consistently with the Constitution and laws of the United States, may have made a crime against its laws. Kentucky v. Dennison, 24 How. 66, 69, 16 L. ed. 717; Ex parte Reggel, 114 U. S. 642, 650, 29 L. ed 250, 252, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1148. So that the simple inquiry must be whether the person whose surrender is demanded is in fact a fugitive from justice, not whether he consciously fled from justice in order to avoid prosecution for the crime with which he is charged by the demanding state. A person charged by indictment or...