Knewel v. Egan, 622

• Decision Date: 25 May 1925
• Docket Number: No. 622,622
• Citation: 268 U.S. 442,69 L.Ed. 1036,45 S.Ct. 522
• Parties: KNEWEL, Sheriff, v. EGAN
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

268 U.S. 442

45 S.Ct. 522

69 L.Ed. 1036

KNEWEL, Sheriff,

v EGAN.

No. 622.

Argued April 2, 1925.

Decided May 25, 1925.

Mr. Byron S. Payne, of Pierre, S. D., for appellant.

Mr. George W. Egan, of Sioux Falls, S. D., pro se.

Mr. Justice STONE delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case comes here on appeal from the District Court of the United States for the District of South Dakota from an order and judgment of that court on writ of habeas corpus, discharging the appellee from the custody of the appellant as sheriff of Minnehaha county, S. D.

Appellee was charged, on information by the state's attorney of that county, with the presentation of a false insurance claim in violation of section 4271 of the Revised Code of 1919 of South Dakota. He was convicted of violation of the statute, after trial by jury, in the South Dakota circuit court in May, 1920, and was sentenced to serve a term in the state penitentiary. On appeal to the Supreme Court of the state, judgment of conviction was vacated and new trial granted. State v. Egan, 44 S. D. 273, 183 N. W. 652.

Egan was again brought to trial on the same charge in April, 1922, and was again found guilty, and sentenced to serve a term in the state penitentiary. Upon appeal to the Supreme Court of the state, the judgment of conviction was affirmed. State v. Egan (S. D.) 195 N. W. 642.

Before the District Court, the appellee urged, as he urges here, two principal grounds for granting the writ, namely, that the information on which the conviction was had did not describe a public offense; that in it no venue was laid; and that in consequence the trial court was without jurisdiction in the cause.

Section 4271 of the Revised Code of South Dakota, under which the conviction was had, so far as pertinent, reads as follows:

'Every person who presents or causes to be presented any false or fraudulent claim, or any proof in support of any such claim, upon any contract of insurance for the payment of any loss, * * * is punishable by imprisonment in the state penitentiary not exceeding three years, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or both.'

The information charged in substance that the Fireman's Insurance Company, a corporation of Newark, N. J., was empowered to do business in the state of South Dakota and in pursuance of this authority insured certain property of petitioner located in Minnehaha county, that the property was destroyed by fire, and that thereafter petitioner presented a false claim to its agents; the language of the information being:

'And that thereafter and on or about the 9th day of January, 1920, the said defendant, George W. Egan, then and there did willfully, unlawfully and feloniously present and cause to be presented to F. C. Whitehouse & Co., who were at that time acting as the agents for the Firemen's Insurance Company of Newark, N. J., a false and fraudulent claim and proof in support of such claim.'

The circuit court of Minnehaha county, in which appellee's trial and conviction were had, by the provisions of the Constitution of South Dakota (section 14, art. 5) and the Revised Code of South Dakota, 1919, § 4653, is given original jurisdiction of all actions and causes both at law and in equity and original jurisdiction to try and determine all cases of felony. It accordingly had plenary jurisdiction to try the charge of violation of section 4271 of the Revised Code which makes the presentation of false or fraudulent insurance claims a crime punishable by imprisonment in the state penitentiary, which, by section 3573, is made a felony. The circuit court is not limited in its jurisdiction by the statutes of the state to any particular county. Its jurisdiction extends as far as the statute law extends in its application, namely, throughout the limits of the state. The only limitation in this regard, contained in the statute, is found in section 4654, which provides in substance that the issue of fact in any criminal case can only be tried in the court in which it is brought, or to which the place of trial is changed by order of the court.

Section 4771 provides that defendant may demur to the information when it appears upon its face 'that the court is without jurisdiction of the offense charged.' Section 4779 provides that objections to which demurrers may be interposed under section 4771 are waived, with certain exceptions not here material, unless taken by demurrer.

Appellee pleaded 'not guilty' to the indictment. His application, made later, to withdraw the plea and demur was denied, the court acting within its discretionary power. State v. Egan (S. D.) 195 N. W. 642. The Supreme Court of South Dakota, in sustaining the verdict and upholding the conviction, held that the information sufficiently charged a public offense under section 4271, State v. Egan, 44 S. D. 273, 183 N. W. 652, and it also held that the objection to the failure to state the venue in the information was waived by the failure to demur. From the foregoing it will be observed that what appellee is really seeking on this appeal is a review on habeas corpus of the determination of the Supreme Court of South Dakota that the information was sufficient as a pleading and a determination that the decision of the state court holding that under the Revised Code of 1919 (sections 4725, 4771, 4779) the appellee waived the objection that the information did not state the venue by not demurring, was a denial of his constitutional rights which can be reviewed on habeas corpus.

It is the settled rule of this court that habeas corpus calls in question only the jurisdiction of the court whose judgment is challenged. Andrews v. Swartz, 156 U. S. 272, 15 S. Ct. 389, 39 L. Ed. 422; Bergemann v. Backer, 157 U. S. 655, 15 S. Ct. 727, 39 L. Ed. 845; In re Lennon, 166 U. S. 548, 17 S. Ct. 658, 41 L. Ed. 1110; Felts v. Murphy, 201 U. S. 123; Valentina v. Mercer, 201 U. S. 131, 26 S. Ct. 368, 50 L. Ed. 693; Frank v. Mangum, 237 U. S. 309, 35 S. Ct. 582, 59 L. Ed. 969.

A person convicted of crime by a judgment of a state court may secure the review of that judgment by the highest state court and if unsuccessful there may then resort to this court by writ of error if an appropriate federal question be involved and decided against him, or if he be imprisoned under the judgment, he may proceed by writ of habeas corpus on constitutional grounds summarily to determine whether he is restrained of his liberty by judgment of a court acting without jurisdiction. See Ex parte Royall, 117 U. S. 241, 6 S. Ct. 734, 29 L. Ed. 868. But if he pursues the latter remedy, he may not use it as a substitute for a writ of error. Ex parte Parks, 93 U. S. 18, 23 L. Ed. 787; In re Coy, 127 U. S. 731, 8 S. Ct. 1263, 32 L. Ed. 274. It is fundamental that a court upon which is conferred jurisdiction to try an offense has jurisdiction to determine whether or not that offense is charged or proved. Otherwise every judgment of conviction would be subject to collateral attack and review on habeas corpus on the ground that no offense was charged or proved. It has been uniformly held by this court that the sufficiency of an indictment cannot be reviewed in habeas corpus proceedings. Ex parte Watkins, 3 Pet. 193, 7 L. Ed. 650; Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U. S. 651;¹ Ex parte Parks, supra; In re Coy, supra; Bergemann v. Backer, supra; Howard v. Fleming, 191 U. S. 126, 24 S. Ct. 49, 48 L. Ed. 121; Dimmick v. Tompkins, 194 U. S. 540, 24 S. Ct. 780, 48 L. Ed. 1110; In re Eckart, 166 U. S. 481, 17 S. Ct. 638, 41 L. Ed. 1085; Goto v. Lane, 265 U. S. 393, 44 S. Ct. 525, 68 L. Ed. 1070.

Appellee stands in no better situation with respect to the failure to allege venue in the information. A mere failure to allege venue, and thus to show...