In re Bonner. , original

Decision Date08 January 1894
Docket NumberNo. 8,8
Citation38 L.Ed. 149,14 S.Ct. 323,151 U.S. 242
PartiesIn re BONNER. , original
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Statement by Mr. Justice FIELD:

The petitioner, John Bonner, a citizen of the United States, represents that he is now and has been since the 23d of May, 1893, unlawfully deprived of his liberty by one P. W. Madden, as warden of the penitentiary of Iowa situated in Anamosa, in that state. He sets forth, as the cause of his restrain and detention, that at the October term, 1892, of the United States court for the third judicial division of the Indian Territory, he was indicted for the larceny, in May previous, in the Chickasaw Nation, within the Indian Territory, of four head of cattle, of the value of fifty dollars, the property of one Robert Williams, who was not a member of any Indian tribe; that during that month he was arraigned before the same court, and pleaded not guilty to the indictment, and was tried and found guilty. The statute under which the indictment was found is contained in section 5356 of the Revised Statutes, and is as follows: 'Every person who, upon the high seas, or in any place under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, takes and carries away, with intent to steal or purloin, the personal goods of another, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.' The court, by its judgment, sentenced the petitioner to imprisonment in the penitentiary at Anamosa, in the state of Iowa, for the term of one year, and to the payment of a fine of $1,000. It also added that the marshal of the court, to whose custody he was then committed, should safely keep and convey the petitioner, and deliver him to the custody of the warden of the penitentiary, who would receive and keep him in prison for the period of one year in execution of the sentence. The petitioner also sets forth that the warden of the penitentiary has no other authority to hold him than the said judgment and order of commitment.

The petitioner alleges that the said sentence and order of commitment are void; that the court was without power or jurisdiction under the law to render the judgment; and that he had applied to the United States judge of the northern district of Iowa for a writ of habeas corpus to be released from confinement, and that the writ was denied to him. He therefore prays that this court will issue the writ of habeas corpus to the said warden to appear before this court, and show what authority, if any, he has for restraining the petitioner of his liberty, and that upon final hearing he may be discharged.

An order was issued from this court in October last, to the warden, to show cause why the writ should not be granted, as prayed. The warden returns answer that he holds the prisoner by virtue of a warrant of commitment issued upon the judgment and sentence of the United States court, as above stated, of which a copy is annexed to the petition, and that at the time of the petitioner's conviction, and of the judgment and sentence, there was no penitentiary or jail suitable for the confinement of convicts, or available therefor, in the Indian Territory, and that the state penitentiary at Anamosa had been duly designated by the attorney general, under section 5546 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as the place of confinement for prisoners convicted of crime by that court, and that the order of the court for the confinement of the petitioner in that penitentiary under its sentence of imprisonment was in pursuance of that designation.

So much of section 5546 of the Revised Statutes as bears upon the question under consideration in this case is as follows: 'All persons who have been or who may hereafter be convicted of crime by any court of the United States, whose punishment is imprisonment, in a district or territory where, at the time of conviction, there may be no penitentiary or jail suitable for the confinement of convicts or available therefor, shall be confined during the term for which they have been or may be sentenced in some suitable jail or penitentiary in a convenient state or territory, to be designated by the attorney general, and shall be transported and delivered to the warden or keeper of such jail or penitentiary by the marshal of the district or territory where the conviction has occurred.'

John C. Cheney, for petitioner.

Sol. Gen. Maxwell, for respondent.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 245-254 intentionally omitted]

Page 254

Mr. Justice FIELD, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.

The petitioner asks for the issue of the writ of habeas corpus in order that he may be thereby set at liberty, on the ground that his imprisonment in the penitentiary at Anamosa, in Iowa, is in pursuance of a judgment of a court which possessed no authority under the law to pass sentence upon him of imprisonment in the state penitentiary, upon his conviction of the offense for which he was indicted and tried. That is a sentence which can only be imposed where it is specifically prescribed, or where the imprisonment ordered is for a period longer than one year, or at hard labor. To an imprisonment for that period, or at hard labor, in a state penitentiary, infamy is attached, and a taint of that character can be cast only in the cases mentioned.

Section 5356 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, under which the defendant was indicted and convicted, prescribes as a punishment for the offenses designated fine or imprisonment, the fine not to exceed $1,000, and the imprisonment not more than one year,—or by both such fine and imprisonment. Such imprisonment cannot be enforced in a state penitentiary. Its limitation, being to one year, must be enforced elsewhere. Section 5541 of the Revised Statutes provides that: 'In every case where any person convicted of any offense against the United States is sentenced to imprisonment for a period longer than one year, the court by which the sentence is passed may order the same to be executed in any state jail or penitentiary within the district or state where such court is held, the use of which jail or penitentiary is allowed by the legislature of the state for that purpose.' And section 5542 provides for a similar imprisonment in a state jail or penitentiary, where the person has been convicted of any offense against the United States, and sentenced to imprisonment and confinement at hard labor. It follows

Page 255

that the court had no jurisdiction to order an imprisonment, when the place is not specified in the law, to be executed in a penitentiary, when the imprisonment is not ordered for a period longer than one year, or at hard labor. The statute is equivalent to a direct denial of any authority on the part of the court to direct that imprisonment be executed in a penitentiary in any cases other than those specified. Whatever discretion, therefore, the court may possess, in prescribing the extent of imprisonment as a punishment for the offense committed, it cannot, in specifying the place of imprisonment, name one of these institutions. This has been expressly adjudged in Re Mills, 135 U. S. 263, 270, 10 Sup. Ct. 762, which, in one part of it, presents features in all respects similar to those of the present case.

There, the petitioner, Mills, was detained by the warden of the state penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio, pursuant to two judgments of the district court of the United States for the western district of Arkansas, sentencing him, in each case, to confinement in the penitentiary of that state. Application was made by the prisoner for a writ of habeas corpus, on the ground that the court by which he was tried had no jurisdiction of the offenses with which he was charged, and on the further ground that his detention in the penitentiary under the sentences, neither of which was for a longer period than one year, was contrary to the laws of the United States. The first position was not considered tenable, but the second was deemed sufficient to authorize the issue of the writ. The court held that, apart from any question as to whether the court below had jurisdiction to try the offense charged, the detention of the petitioner in the penitentiary upon sentences, neither of which was for imprisonment longer than one year, was in violation of the laws of the United States, and that he was therefore entitled to be discharged from the custody of the warden of the institution. 'A sentence simply of 'imprisonment," said the court, 'in the case of a person convicted of an offense against the United States, where the statute prescribing the punishment does not require that the accused shall be confined in a penitentiary, cannot be executed by confinement in that institution, except in cases where

Page 256

the sentence is 'for a period longer than one year.' There is consequently no escape from the conclusion that the judgment of the court, sentencing the petitioner to imprisonment in a penitentiary, in one case for a year, and in the other for six months, was in violation of the statutes of the United States. The court below was without jurisdiction to pass any such sentences, and the orders directing the sentences of imprisonment to be executed in a penitentiary are void.' The court added: 'This is not a case of mere error, but one in which the court below transcended its power;' citing Ex parte Lange, 18 Wall. 163, 176; Ex parte Parks, 93 U. S. 18, 23; Ex parte Virginia, 100 U. S. 339, 343; Ex parte Rowland, 104 U. S. 604, 612; In re Coy, 127, U. S. 731, 738, 8 Sup. Ct. 1263; and Nielson, Petitioner, 131 U. S. 176, 182, 9 Sup. Ct. 672.

Counsel for the government admits that upon the authority of that case, construing the Revised Statutes, the...

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