James Tinsley v. Morgan Treat

• Decision Date: 04 March 1907
• Docket Number: No. 369,369
• Citation: 205 U.S. 20,51 L.Ed. 689,27 S.Ct. 430
• Parties: JAMES G. TINSLEY, Appt., v. MORGAN TREAT, United States Marshal in and for the Eastern District of Virginia, et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

205 U.S. 20

27 S.Ct. 430

51 L.Ed. 689

JAMES G. TINSLEY, Appt.,

v MORGAN TREAT, United States Marshal in and for the Eastern District of Virginia, et al.

No. 369.

Argued December 3, 4, 1906.

Decided March 4, 1907.

Messrs. John J. Vertrees, John S. Miller, Henry A. M. Smith, James C. Bradford, Marcellus Green, and Garner Wynn Green for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 21-22 intentionally omitted] Assistant Attorney General McReynolds and Solicitor General Hoyt for appellees.

Mr. Chief Justice Fuller delivered the opinion of the court:

In May, 1906, the grand jury in the United States circuit court for the middle district of Tennessee returned an indictment against thirty corporations, two partnerships, and twenty-five persons, as defendants. This indictment contained six counts. Generally speaking, the first, second, fourth, and fifth charged the defendants with violating § 1 of the act of Congress approved July 2, 1890, entitled 'An Act to Protect Trade and Commerce against Unlawful Restraints and Monopolies' [26 Stat. at L. 209, chap. 647, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 3200], and the third and sixth counts charged them under § 5440 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 3676). In July, 1906, the government presented to the district judge of the eastern district of Virginia, at Richmond, a complaint made by Morgan Treat, United States Marshal, alleging that he believed James G. Tinsley stood indicted as aforesaid, and annexing a certified copy of the indictment as a part of the complaint, and praying that Tinsley might 'be arrested and imprisoned and removed or bailed, as the case may be, for trial before the said circuit court of the United States for the middle district of Tennessee, and further dealt with according to law.' Tinsley was arrested and taken directly before the district judge, who acted as committing magistrate as well as the judge to order removal. In the proceedings before the district judge, Tinsley admitted that he was one of the defendants named in the indictment. The government relied on the certified copy of the indictment, and offered no evidence except that; and asked for an order to be made for Tinsley's commitment and removal forthwith.

The record of those proceedings states:

'And thereupon the defendant, J. G. Tinsley, offered himself as witness in his own behalf, and, being about to be sworn, the United States, by its counsel, thereupon objected to the witness being sworn or to any testimony being given in rebuttal of the indictment in these proceedings, on the ground that, the identity of the defendant being admitted, insamuch as the indictment on its face charges offenses against the United States, committed and triable in the jurisdiction in which the defendant stands indicted, no evidence is admissible here to impeach the indictment, and the order of commitment should be made without other proof.

'The defendant's counsel thereupon offered to prove by the defendant and other witnesses, then and there present, that the circuit court for the middle district of Tennessee had no jurisdiction over the person of said defendant touching the offenses charged in said indictment, in that defendant and said other witnesses would, if permitted, testify that defendant is, and has been for many years, a resident and citizen of the city of Richmond, state of Virginia, and that defendant never, at any time, or at any place in the state of Tennessee, at the times charged in the indictment, did or performed, or was party to, or engaged in, any act or thing in the said indictment charged as having been done and performed in any way whatsoever by this defendant in the said state of Tennessee; nor has defendant done, or performed, or been engaged in, or a party to, the same or any of them in any other place or places at any other time or times whatsoever.

'Thereupon counsel for the government renewed its objections as aforesaid:

'After hearing counsel on both sides, the court announced its conclusions as follows:

"The conclusion reached by the court is that, in a proceeding for the arrest and removal of persons charged with a violation of the laws of the United States pursuant to § 1014 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 716), before a United States district judge, sitting in the state of Virginia, in which state there no longer exists the right of a preliminary examination upon a crime charged prior to the trial upon the merits, when said judge is called upon to act as well in the matter of the apprehension of such persons as in their removal to the jurisdiction in which they have been indicted, that upon the government's presentation of a sufficient indictment, regularly found by a grand jury in a court of the United States, properly charging the commission of an offense within the district in which such indictment is found, coupled with proof of the identity of the person indicted, it is its duty to properly bail such person for appearance before the court in which he is indicted, or cause him to be removed thereto."

It was then ruled that the testimony offered was inadmissible, and the district judge ordered that the accused either give bail or be held for removal. Tinsley declined to give bond, a warrant directing removal to the middle district of Tennessee was issued, and he remained in custody pending its execution. No objection was offered to the inductment at any time during the proceedings before the district judge.

The district judge should not have allowed himself to be controlled by the statutes of Virginia. In that commonwealth it appears to have been formerly required that after indictment an examination should be had; but by subsequent legislation it was provided that where an indictment had been found, a capias should be issued for the arrest of the defendant, and no inquiry was to be made. But, when there was no indictment, a person arrested for an indictable offense must be taken before a magistrate for preliminary examination, and it was the magistrate's duty to inquire whether or not there was sufficient cause for charging the accused with the offense. Pollard's Anno. Code, Va. §§ 3955, 3969, 4003; Jones v. Com. 86 Va. 661, 10 S. E. 1005.

But, as hereinafter seen, the district judge, on application to remove, acts judicially, and that part of § 1014 of the Revised Statutes of the United States which says that the proceedings are to be conducted 'agreeably to the usual mode of process against offenders in such state,' has no relation to the inquiry on application for removal.

Application was then made to the circuit court for writs of habeas corpus and certiorari, which were granted and due returns made. The petition alleged that Tinsley was unlawfully restrained of his liberty by the marshal, under color of authority of the United States, by virtue of a warrant for removal, claimed to have been issued under § 1014, Revised Statutes. It set forth in full the proceedings taken before the district judge and the rulings and orders made during the hearing. It was charged that, under and by virtue of clause 3, § 2, article 3, of the Constitution, and of the 6th Amendment, he was entitled to be tried, and could only be tried for any alleged offense against the United States in the state and district where the offenses charged in the indictment were committed; that the offenses specified in the indictment were not committed in the middle district of Tennessee; that none of the acts supposed to have been engaged in by petitioner were done within that district; that the indictment stated no offense and was insufficient and void. It was further alleged that the warrant of removal was in violation of § 2 of article 3 of the Constitution and of the 6th Amendment; that the rulings of the district judge, in holding the certified copy of the indictment conclusive and in refusing to permit the introduction of any evidence on behalf of petitioner, deprived him of rights secured by the Constitution and by § 1014, Revised Statutes; and that he was deprived of his liberty without due process of law.

At the hearing before the circuit court, in addition...