James Howard v. Commonwealth of Kentucky
Decision Date | 02 January 1906 |
Docket Number | No. 77,77 |
Citation | 26 S.Ct. 189,200 U.S. 164,50 L.Ed. 421 |
Parties | JAMES B. HOWARD, Plff. in Err. , v. COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs. W. M. Smith, J. A. Violett, J. A. Scott, and Carlo B. Little for plaintiff in error.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 165-168 intentionally omitted] Messrs. N. B. Hays and Charles H. Morris for defendant in error.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 168-170 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice McKenna delivered the opinion of the court:
The plaintiff in error seeks to review the judgment of the court of appeals of the commonwealth of Kentucky affirming a conviction and sentence of murder against him. He was indicted, with others, for killing one William Goebel. The grounds of review by this court are based upon certain rulings of the trial court which, plaintiff in error contends, were repugnant to the due process clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
It appears from the record that eleven jurors, including one J. C. Alexander, had been accepted by the parties. The commonwealth had exhausted three of its peremptory challenges, and plaintiff in error eleven of his,—he was given by the statutes fifteen. At this point the commonwealth's attorney suggested that Alexander had formed and expressed an opinion on the merits of the case, and had improperly conversed with a person, not a member of the jury, on a subject connected with the case. The commonwealth's attorney then made a motion to discharge Alexander from the jury, in support of which he filed the following affidavit of one Ben Hackett, who had been excluded as a juror in the case:
The affiant, Ben Hackett, says that after the killing of William Goebel he and Mr. J. C. Alexander, who has been accepted on the jury to try this case, had many conversations and arguments about the said killing, this affiant expressing and urging the opinion that there had been a conspiracy to murder Goebel, among those who were charged with his murder, and Mr. Alexander expressing and urging the opinion that there had not been a conspiracy at all to murder him. These arguments and conversations occurred at different times and places in Woodford county during the time that has elapsed since the murder of Mr. Goebel, were frequent, and much earnest interest and feeling was expressed by both this affiant and Mr. Alexander therein.
This affiant further says that on yesterday afternoon, late, after Mr. Alexander had been accepted as a juror to try the case, and after this affiant had been excused, after those accepted as jurors had been charged and admonished by the court, immediately after adjournment for supper, and as the jury was being conducted by the sheriff away from the courthouse, affiant by accident met the jury as they were passing out through the courthouse yard, when, in passing, Mr. Alexander said to this affiant: 'Hello, Ben, I am glad they cut you off this jury, as I did not want to serve on this jury with you.'
Affiant, Ben Hackett, says the foregoing statements are true.
(Signed) Ben F. Hackett.
The following proceedings were then had, as appears from the order of the court, from which we quote:
'It was agreed by counsel on either side that the court might, in the absence of the defendant and counsel, question the said Alexander as to the truth of the said statements, contained in said Hackett's affidavit, that he said to said Hackett while in the custody of the sheriff, 'Hello, Ben, I am glad they cut you off of this jury, as I did not want to serve on this jury with you,' and the said Alexander having admitted the truth of said statement, but claimed the said statement was made in a jocular way, and the court being of the opinion that such conduct on the part of said Alexander was a violation of the admonitions of the court, when he was placed in the custody of the sheriff, it was ordered and adjudged that said Alexander be, and he is now, excused as a juror in this case, and he is now ordered to be discharged; and the court, being thus advised, overruled defendant's objection, and discharged and excused said Alexander, and defendant, by counsel, excepts.
'Thereupon defendant moved the court to discharge the entire panel remaining, which was objected to by the attorney for the commonwealth, and the court being advised, sustained said objection, and refused to discharge said entire panel, to which ruling defendant, by counsel, excepts.'
By these rulings, it is contended that plaintiff in error was deprived of due process of law. Error is assigned under the 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendments of the Constitution of the United States.
Plaintiff in error cannot avail himself of the provisions of the 5th and 6th Amendments, for reasons we have so often expressed that it would be the extreme of superfluity to repeat them. It is enough to say that those amendments do not apply to proceedings in the state courts. The invocation of the 14th Amendment is attempted to be justified on two grounds: (1) That the trial court, in discharging Alexander, acted beyond its power, and that the court of appeals of Kentucky, in holding that, by reason of § 281 of the Criminal Code of the state, it cannot reverse on account of such error, deprives plaintiff in error of his liberty without due process of law. (2) By the common law, which has been adopted by Kentucky, and by the Constitution and statutes of the state, an accused has not only the right to be present, but must be present during the whole of the trial. 'His presence is not only an inalienable right, but a jurisdictional fact, and cannot be waived.'
The argument of plaintiff in error is very elaborate, but there is scarcely any phase of it which has not been answered adversely to his contention by decisions of this court.
He seems to make an issue with the court of appeals of the state upon the law of the state, and to contend that the court erred in the interpretation and application of that law. This contention encounters the ruling in Re Converse, 137 U. S 624, 631, 34 L. ed. 796, 799, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 191, and other cases, which hold that 'state cannot be deemed guilty of a violation of its obligations under the Constitution of the United states because of a decision, even if erroneous, of its highest court, while acting within its jurisdiction.'
We cannot assume error in the decision of the court of appeals. We accept it, as we are bound to do, as a correct exposition of the law of the state,—common, statutory, and constitutional. Our inquiry can only be, Did the state law, as applied, afford plaintiff in error due process, as those words are used in the 14th Amendment? We think it did. It is not necessary to enter into a lengthy discussion of what constitutes due process of law. That has been done in a number of cases and there is nothing in the present case which calls for a repetition and an extension of the discussion. It may be admitted that the words 'due process of law,' as used in the 14th Amendment, protect fundamental rights. What those are cannot ever be the cause of much...
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