Martin v. Newland

• Decision Date: 31 March 1925
• Docket Number: 24,444
• Citation: 147 N.E. 141,196 Ind. 58
• Parties: Martin v. Newland, Sheriff, et al
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

147 N.E. 141

196 Ind. 58

Martin v. Newland, Sheriff, et al

No. 24,444

Supreme Court of Indiana

March 31, 1925

1 ARREST.---Without authority under warrant from another state.---A warrant issued by a court in another state has no extraterritorial effect, and confers no authority to arrest and imprison a person in Indiana, and an arrest made without a warrant issued by a court or proper officer of this state is unlawful. p. 61.

2. HABEAS CORPUS.---Sheriff's return to writ must contain process, but may be amended.---By the express provisions of 1173 (subd. 2) Burns 1914, 1116 R. S. 1881, a sheriff is required to set out in his return a copy of the requisition or warrant under which the petitioner was arrested and taken into custody, but if he failed to do so the court had authority to permit an amendment of the return (1174 Burns 1914). p. 61.

3. HABEAS CORPUS.---Sheriff's return to writ insufficient without copy of process, especially under foreign warrant.---A sheriff's return to a writ of habeas corpus which failed to set out the warrant under which the petitioner was arrested and taken into custody was insufficient, especially where the return expressly averred that the petitioner was held in custody under a warrant issued by a court of another state, and it was reversible error to overrule the petitioner's exceptions thereto. p 61.

4. HABEAS CORPUS.---After a court has refused to discharge a prisoner held as fugitive it may make a finding as to the identity of accused and of extradition.---Under the provisions of 1894 Burns 1914, after a court has adjudged that petitioner is not entitled to be discharged from custody because of a finding that he is a fugitive from justice for whom a requisition from another state has been properly issued, the court may properly make a finding as to the identity of the accused and enter an order for his extradition. p. 62.

From Vermillion Circuit Court; William C. Wait, Judge.

Application for habeas corpus by Agnes M. Martin against Harry Newland sheriff, and another. From an order directing petitioner's return to custody of sheriff, the petitioner appeals.

Reversed.

H. B. Aikman, W. Bert Conley and George D. Sunkel, for appellant.

OPINION

Ewbank, J.

Appellant filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that Henry Newland, the sheriff of Vermilion county, and Joseph Mallow, claiming to be an agent of the State of Illinois, were unlawfully imprisoning her, without right; that they were doing so under claim of authority of "a pretended writ issued by the Governor of the State of Indiana upon an alleged and pretended requisition from the Governor of the State of Illinois, which * * * charges that this petitioner is a fugitive from justice from said State of Illinois"; but that the alleged acts charged by the requisition to have been done by petitioner did not constitute a criminal offense under the laws of Illinois, that the requisition did not purport to charge that she was guilty of treason or murder, and that the court in which the affidavit was filed that issued the warrant on which the requisition was based was not a court of the State of Illinois, and that the judges of that court were not magistrates of the State of Illinois. No objection was made to the sufficiency of the petition, and a writ was issued, to which each defendant made a return, verified by his oath. Exceptions to the returns of each defendant were overruled, and appellant excepted. And upon her refusal to plead further, the court made a finding that each return was in all things sufficient, and entered a judgment that the petitioner be returned to the custody of the sheriff.

The alleged agent of the State of Illinois denied that he was then restraining the petitioner in any way, but asserted that he was "an agent designated by the Governor of the State of Illinois to return said Agnes M. Martin to the State of Illinois" to answer a criminal charge against her there that she was in the custody of the sheriff only, and "that he will take the custody of said Agnes M. Martin by virtue of the warrant issued by the Governor of the State of Indiana, and designating him as agent, as soon as she is turned over to him by the sheriff of Vermilion county and by order of the judge of the Vermillion Circuit Court." And afterward the court found "that said petitioner is not in the custody of the defendant, Joseph Mallow, and is not unlawfully restrained of her liberty by him." No question is presented as to the...