Dowd v. Anderson, 27584.
| Decision Date | 30 March 1942 |
| Docket Number | No. 27584.,27584. |
| Citation | 220 Ind. 6,40 N.E.2d 658 |
| Parties | DOWD, Warden, v. ANDERSON. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Petition by James Anderson for a writ of habeas corpus directed to Alfred F. Dowd, as Warden of the Indiana State Prison. From a judgment discharging the petitioner from custody, the warden appeals.
Judgment reversed with instructions to quash the writ.Appeal from Superior Court, LaPorte County; James P. Gleason, judge.
Geo. N. Beamer, Atty. Gen., James K. Northam, First Asst. Atty. Gen., and Norman E. Duke, Deputy Atty. Gen., for appellant.
Oscar B. Thiel, of Gary, for appellee.
This is an appeal from a judgment discharging the appellee from the custody of the warden of the Indiana State Prison upon his petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
By his petition and the return it was made to appear that he was held on a commitment issued by the Crawford Circuit Court, a court of general jurisdiction, upon a judgment, regular upon its face, finding him guilty of murder upon his plea of guilty. He had served five years of his sentence when the proceeding was begun. The appellee's petition for habeas corpus alleges facts substantially identical with those in State ex rel. Dowd, Warden, v. Superior Court of La Porte County, Ind.Sup., 1941, 36 N.E.2d 765.
It has been provided by statute, and uniformly held by this court from the earliest times, that a judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction cannot be collaterally attacked and overthrown in a habeas corpus proceeding; that failure to accord the defendant constitutional rights is error, but does not render the judgment void. Counsel for appellee recognizes this long established rule, but contends that the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States require that it be abandoned. We do not so construe the cases.
We have noticed the fact that Congress has seen fit to make a different provision with respect to judgments entered by federal courts. We have repeatedly pointed out that the state courts in the counties in which our prisons are located have no jurisdiction to examine or review a final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction regular upon its face. The question is solely one of jurisdiction. Where constitutional rights, state or federal, are invaded or denied there are well known remedies provided, but these remedies must be sought in the court in which the judgment was rendered, or in this court upon appeal. No other state court has jurisdiction. State...
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State v. Dossett
...void or subject to collateral attack. Dowd v. Superior Court of La Porte County (1941), 219 Ind. 17, 36 N.E.2d 765; Dowd v. Anderson (1942), 220 Ind. 6, 40 N.E.2d 658. Generally, a party to a judgment may not collaterally attack the final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction when t......
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...Acts 1951, ch. 238, § 2, p. 682; State ex rel. Cook v. Howard, Warden, 1946, 223 Ind. 694, 64 N.E.2d 25, supra; Dowd, Warden v. Anderson, 1942, 220 Ind. 6, 40 N.E.2d 658; In the Matter of William T. Underwood, 1875, 30 Mich. Third: Appellant also alleges in his petition that he 'is now sane......
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...that the convicting court did not have jurisdiction and the judgment is absolutely void. In the case of Dowd, Warden v. Anderson (1942), 220 Ind. 6, 8, 40 N.E.2d 658, 659, (cert. den.) 317 U.S. 630, 63 S.Ct. 50, 87 L.Ed. 509, we '* * * We have repeatedly pointed out that the state courts in......