Fernandez v. Phillips

• Decision Date: 25 May 1925
• Docket Number: No. 680,680
• Citation: 45 S.Ct. 541,268 U.S. 311,69 L.Ed. 970
• Parties: FERNANDEZ v. PHILLIPS, U. S. Marshal for District of New Hampshire
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

268 U.S. 311

45 S.Ct. 541

69 L.Ed. 970

FERNANDEZ

v PHILLIPS, U. S.Marshal for District of New Hampshire.

No. 680.

Argued and Submitted May 4, 1925.

Decided May 25, 1925.

Mr. John E. Benton, of Washington, D. C., for appellant.

Mr. Harold B. Elgar, of New York City, for appellee.

Mr. Justice HOLMESdelivered the opinion of the Court.

The appellant is charged with embezzlement of public funds while a public officer of the United States of Mex ico.He was held for surrender to that Government after a hearing before a District Judge who found that there was probable cause to believe that he was guilty and that he was a fugitive from justice.Writs of habeas corpus and certiorari were issued by another District Judge who came to the same conclusion and remanded the appellant.The case is brought here directly upon the somewhat strained assumption that the construction of our treaty with Mexico is involved.Being here, out of a natural anxiety to save the appellant if possible from being sent from New Hampshire to Mexico for trial, it has been presented as if this were the final stage and every technical detail were to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.This is not the law.Form is not to be insisted upon beyond the requirements of safety and justice.Glucksman v. Henkel, 221 U. S. 508, 512, 31 S. Ct. 704, 55 L. Ed. 830.Competent evidence to establish reasonable grounds is not necessarily evidence competent to convict.See, e. g., Bingham v. Bradley, 241 U. S. 511, 517, 36 S. Ct. 634, 60 L. Ed. 1136;Collins v. Loisel, 259 U. S. 309, 317, 42 S. Ct. 469, 66 L. Ed. 956. 1 Wigmore, Evidence (2d Ed.) § 4(6), p. 21.

The foregoing are general principles relating to extradition, but there are further limits to habeas corpus.That writ as has been said very often cannot take the place of a writ of error.It is not a means for rehearing what the magistrate already has decided.The alleged fugitive from justice has had his hearing and habeas corpus is available only to inquire whether the magistrate had jurisdiction, whether the offense charged is within the treaty and, by a somewhat liberal extension, whether there was any evidence warranting the finding that there was reasonable ground to believe the accused guilty.Benson v. McMahon, 127 U. S. 457, 8 S. Ct. 1240, 32 L. Ed. 234;Re Luis Oteiza y Cortes, 136 U. S. 330, 10 S. Ct. 1031, 34 L. Ed. 464;Bryant v. United States, 167 U. S. 104, 105, 17 S. Ct. 744, 42 L. Ed. 94;Elias v. Ramirez, 215 U. S. 398, 406, 30 S. Ct. 131, 54 L. Ed. 253.We pass to the consideration of the specific objections urged.

It is objected in the first place that the complaint and warrant are defective.The complaint was filed by an As sistant District Attorney of the United States for the District of New Hampshire.It alleged that the complaint was informed 'through diplomatic channel' that the appellant was duly and legally charged by the United States of Mexico with the crime, and on behalf of that government prayed the arrest.Of course whatever form of words was used, the complaint necessarily was upon information, but as appeared at the hearing it was filed by order of the Attorney General, upon request of the Secretary of State, enclosing a request for the extradition from the Mexican Government and a copy of proceedings in a Mexican Court finding that the crime was duly proved against the appellant and ordering his arrest, many pages of evidence being appended.This was enough.Yordi v. Nolte, 215 U. S. 227, 231, 232, 30 S. Ct. 90, 54 L. Ed. 170;Rice v. Ames, 180 U. S. 371, 375, 376, 21 S. Ct. 406, 45 L. Ed. 577;Glucksman v. Henkel, 221 U. S. 508, 514, 31 S. Ct. 704, 55 L. Ed....