Harold Crowley v. United States
Decision Date | 31 May 1904 |
Docket Number | No. 205,205 |
Citation | 48 L.Ed. 1075,24 S.Ct. 731,194 U.S. 461 |
Parties | HAROLD CROWLEY, Plff. in Err. , v. UNITED STATES |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
The plaintiff in error was indicted in the district court of the United States for the district of Porto Rico, as constituted by the act of Congress of April 12th, 1900, entitled 'An Act Temporarily to Provide Revenues and a Civil Government for Porto Rico, and for Other Purposes.' 31 Stat. at L. 85, chap. 191.
The indictment was based upon certain sections of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to crimes committed by persons employed in the postal service. Rev. Stat. §§ 5467, 5468, and 5469 (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, pp. 3691, 3692). The punishment for the offense here charged was imprisonment at hard labor for one year, and not exceeding five years.
After the return of the indictment, the accused filed a plea in abatement, which questioned the competency of certain jurors who participated in the finding of the indictment.
As the action of the court on that plea constitutes the controlling question in the case, the plea is given in full, as follows:
'Now comes the defendant, Harold Crowley, and pleads in abatement to the indictment returned herein, and says that on Monday, the 8th day of April, 1901, there appeared in this court at San Juan, it being the first day of said term, the following-named persons: Manuel Romero Haxthausen, Pedro Fernandez, Alex. Nones, John D. H. Luce, Antonio Blanco, Manuel Andino Pacheco, E. L. Arnold, Henry V. Dooley, J. Ramon Latimer, Miguel Olmedo, Ramon Gandie, Charles H. Post, numbering twelve in all, which said persons were then and there, by the direction of the court and the marshal placed in the jury box, to constitute the panel for the grand jury of this said April term, 1901, of this court.
'Whereupon the court then ordered the marshal to summon other persons to fill up the panel of the said grand jury, and immediately the marshal of the court sent his deputy out of the court room and into the city of San Juan to summon other jurors for such grand jury. Within a few minutes thereafter the marshal brought into court Frank Antonsanti (returned as Antonio Santi and Frank Santi, as appears by the minutes of this court), Hugo Stern, and William Bowen, the said persons not having been then and there bystanders in the court. The said panel then being incomplete, the marshal placed W. H. Holt, Jr., in the box, he being at the time a bystander in said court.
'Defendant says that thereupon the grand jury was constituted from the persons above named, and, after being sworn, proceeded to render a true bill against the defendant, which said alleged true bill on indictment was, by the said grand jury, constituted as aforesaid, returned and presented to this court on Wednesday, April 10th, 1901.
'Defendant says that by an act of the legislative assembly of Porto Rico, which took effect January 31st, 1901, it was provided (§ 3) that jurors shall have the following qualifications, among others:
'1st. A male citizen of the United States or of Porto Rico, of the age of twenty-one years, and not more than sixty years, who shall have been a resident of the island one year, and of the district or county ninety days before being selected and returned.
'4th. Assessed on the last assessment roll of the district or county on property of the value of at least $200, belonging to him.
—which said provisions were in full force and effect at and before the time that all of the persons were sum- moned and impaneled, and returned said indictment as aforesaid.
'Defendant says that at the same time last above mentioned the following persons, composing and constituting the said grand jury, were not assessed on the last assessment roll of any of the districts of Porto Rico on property of the value of $200, belonging to him: Antonio Blanco, Manuel Andino Pacheco, Miguel Olmedo, Charles H. Post, Frank Antonsanti, or Frank Santi, or Antonio Santi, W. H. Holt, Jr., William Bowen.
'Defendant further says that the following persons, composing and constituting said grand jury, were not, at the time above mentioned, publicly drawn from the box, containing at the time of each drawing the names of not less than three hundred persons, possessing the qualifications prescribed in § 800 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 623), and which said names (hereinafter set out) had not been placed therein by the clerk of this court and a jury commissioner, as provided by act of June 30th, 1879 [21 Stat. at L. 43, chap. 52, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 624].
'Such persons whose names were not in said box and selected and summoned in the manner as aforesaid at the dates and times aforesaid were Hugo Stern, W. H. Holt, Jr., Frank Antonsanti, alias Frank Santi, alias Antonio Santi, William Bowen.
'Defendant says that he has been and would be greatly prejudiced by the improper and illegal selection and impaneling of such grand jury as aforesaid, as it was composed at the time aforesaid of persons disqualified to act, and who were not residents or taxpayers of Porto Rico, as required by law, and because of their unfamiliarities with the island and the conditions and circumstances,—material matters in this case, and relevant thereto,—some of said jurors as aforesaid having been but a few months in the island, and temporarily sojourning herein.
'In addition to W. H. Holt, Jr., and William Baun, the following gentlemen of the grand jury were American citizens: John D. H. Luce, E. L. Arnold, Henry W. Dooly, J. Ramon Latimer, foreman thereof, Charles H. Post, Frank Antonsanti; by reason of which and their supposed knowledge of such practices by grand juries in the courts of the United States, might, and, as defendant believes, did, contend the deliberations of said jury so as to induce a finding of indictment where the Porto Rican citizens thereof might not have otherwise done.'
The United States demurred to the plea upon the ground that the matters set forth in it, so far as they controlled or were applicable to the summoning and impaneling of a grand jury in the court below, disclosed no illegality therein, and constituted no reason why the accused should not be required to plead to the indictment.
The demurrer to the plea was sustained, and the plea overruled. The defendant then demurred to the indictment, and, the demurrer being overruled, he pleaded to the jurisdiction of the court upon the ground that it had no authority to proceed at its then special term, but could only proceed at a regular term. That plea was also overruled. The accused was then arraigned and pleaded not guilty, and a trial was had, resulting in a verdict of guilty, and a sentence to four years' imprisonment in the penitentiary.
Mr. Richard Crowley for plaintiff in error.
Assistant Attorney General McReynolds for defendant in error.
The first question is one of the jurisdiction of this court; the government insisting that, under existing statutes, we are without authority to review the judgment in this case.
By the 35th section of the Foraker act of April 12th, 1900 (31 Stat. at L. 85, chap. 191), it is provided, among other things, that writs of error and appeals to this court from the final decisions of the district court of the United States shall be allowed in all cases where 'an act of Congress is brought in question, and the right claimed thereunder is denied.' In this case that act was brought in question by the contention of the parties,—the contention of the accused being, in substance, that, pursuant to that act of Congress, the court below, in the matter of the qualifications of grand jurors, should have been controlled by the provisions of the local law relating to jurors, in connection with the statutes of the United States relating to the organization of grand juries, and the trial and disposition of criminal causes; and the court below deciding that, notwithstanding the Foraker act, the local act of January 31st, 1901 referred to in the plea, was not applicable to this prosecution, and that the grand jury finding the indictment, if a grand jury was necessary, was organized consistently with the laws of the United States under which the court proceeded. It thus appears that the accused claimed a right under the act of Congress and under the Revised Statutes of the United States, which, it is alleged, was denied to him in the court below. This court has, therefore, jurisdiction to inquire whether there is anything of substance in that...
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