Ex Parte Colier., 241.

• Decision Date: 25 September 1947
• Docket Number: No. 241.,241.
• Parties: Ex parte COLIER.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

55 A.2d 29

Ex parte COLIER.

No. 241.

Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey.

Sept. 25, 1947.

Appeal from Court of Chancery.

Proceeding in the matter of the application of John Colier for a writ of habeas corpus. From a decree denying the writ, the applicant appeals.

Decree affirmed.

Abram A. Golden, of Newark, for appellant.

Walter D. Van Riper and Duane E. Minard, Jr., both of Newark, for respondent.

On appeal from a decree of the Court of Chancery in which Court the following opinion was filed:

‘On January 16, 1947, on petition of John Colier, an order to show cause was issued why a writ of habeas corpus should not issue to test the validity of extradition proceedings instituted for the return of the petitioner to the State of South Carolina.

‘On July 6, 1945, Colier was arrested in Newark charged with violating the Disorderly Persons Act. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to serve one year in the Essex County Penitentiary. While serving that sentence, a detainer was filed against him, pending his extradition to Greenwood County, South Carolina, from which he had escaped in October, 1938, while serving sentence upon several convictions of crime.

‘On May 1, 1946, the Governor of South Carolina, issued his Requisition calling upon the Governor of this State to surrender and return the petitioner, The petitioner was arraigned on the warrant before Judge Hartshorne in the Court of Common Pleas of Essex. Hearings were held as to whether a proper authentication by the executive authority of South Carolina was affixed to the extradition papers. On the date of the last hearing, June 3, 1946, a proper authentication by the Governor of South Carolina, was furnished, bearing the date of May 21, 1946. The authentication of the Governor of South Carolina postdated the original warrant of rendition issued by the Governor of this State and the hearing was again adjourned to permit a new warrant of rendition to be issued by the Governor of this State.

‘Before the new warrant was issued, the Governor of this State called upon the Attorney General to investigate the demand and to report to him whether the petitioner ought to be surrendered. R.S. 2:185-12 [N.J.S.A.]. The Attorney General conducted a hearing to afford the petitioner an opportunity to present reasons why the new warrant should not be issued. The petitioner was possessed of no constitutional right to be heard before the Governor and the hearing so conducted by Governor of this State was a matter of grace. In re Thompson, 85 N.J.Eq. 221, 97 A. 102.

‘In the hearing before the Governor, the petitioner through counsel, claimed that he had been denied the right to counsel and a fair and impartial trial and subjected to cruel treatment in South Carolina. When the hearing was concluded, the Governor issued a new warrant of rendition on January 9, 1947, The petitioner was arraignedon the warrant January 14, 1947, before Judge Conlon, in the Court of Common Pleas of Essex County, and there given an opportunity to apply for a writ of habeas corpus. The application for such writ is now before the Court.

‘The requisition and rendition are in proper form. Therefore it is for the Court to inquire whether the petitioner is the person named in the requisition and rendition, and whether he is a fugutive from justice from the demanding State. In re Paramore, 95 N.J.Eq. 386, 123, A. 246,affirmed 96 N.J. Eq. 397, 125 A. 926. The petitioner does not...