In re Lamanna

• Decision Date: 16 May 1933
• Docket Number: Motion No. 69.
• Citation: In re Lamanna, 263 Mich. 62, 248 N.W. 550 (Mich. 1933)
• Parties: In re LAMANNA.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

263 Mich. 62

248 N.W. 550

In re LAMANNA.

Motion No. 69.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

May 16, 1933.

Habeas corpus proceeding on the petition of Vincent Lammanna.

Writ dismissed.

Argued before the Entire Bench.

NORTH, Justice.

On petitioner's application, a writ of habeas corpus with the accompanying writ of certiorari was issued in this cause.Upon trial in the recorder's court in the city of Detroit, petitioner, charged with kidnapping, was convicted and sentenced to the branch of the Michigan State Prison at Marquette for not less than 25 years nor more than 60 years.It is set forth in the petition: ‘That said sentence as imposed on the 28th of September, 1931, is illegal and void and in contravention of the laws of this state, constitutional and statutory.'

Petitioner's reason for asserting that his imprisonment is illegal and void is: ‘That he is a victim of a gross miscarriage of justice and should therefore have the full benefit and protection of the law.Your petitioner is not proceeding to a law suit against this state because of any technicalities in the proceeding, procedure or pleadings applied to his case, but because he is innocent of any wrongdoing.'

Without quoting further from the record, it may be said petitioner's application for the writ of habeas corpus is based solely upon a claim that ‘there is positively and absolutely no evidence to support (his) conviction.’In other words, he here seeks a review of the merits of the case, and raises only questions which could have been reviewed on appeal.

‘Questions decided in review on writ of error may not be reviewed in habeas corpus proceeding, nor may further review of alleged errors, short of jurisdiction of circuit court, be had.

‘Writ of habeas corpus cannot function as writ of error.* * * (Syllabi)In re Palm, 255 Mich. 652, 238 N. W. 732.

‘Questions reviewable by writ of error may not be reviewed in habeas corpus proceeding.’In re Gardner, 260 Mich. 122, 244 N. W. 253.

In petitioner's brief, it is asserted that the undisputed testimony in the trial court was to the effect that petitioner had nothing to do with, and knew nothing about, the commission of the crime until several days after it was committed.He was a witness in his own behalf, and this phase of the record was urged in his defense.However, there was testimony which disclosed that subsequent to the kidnapping defendant acted as a go-between in negotiating and securing the payment of a ransom incident...