McPheters v. Pollard
| Citation | 146 Conn. 509,152 A.2d 632 |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Decision Date | 03 June 1959 |
| Parties | Douglas McPHETERS v. William POLLARD, Sheriff of New Haven County, et al. Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut |
Arthur B. O'Keefe, Sr., New Haven, with whom, on the brief, was Franklin Coeller, New Haven, for appellant (plaintiff).
Ellsworth B. Foote, New Haven, for appellee (named defendant).
Harold M. Mulvey, New Haven, with whom, on the brief, was George W. Crawford, New Haven, for appellee (defendant McManus).
Before DALY, C. J., and BALDWIN, KING, MURPHY and MELLITZ, JJ.
The application for the writ alleged that the prisoner, the plaintiff, was being confined in the New Haven county jail and that such confinement was illegal in that his conviction in the state of Virginia deprived him of, and took away from him, his right of trial by jury and in that he was subjected to cruel and inhuman punishments in that state. The defendants, the sheriff of New Haven County and the chief of police of the city of New Haven, filed demurrers to the application on the ground that it did not claim lack of jurisdiction or that the mittimus under which the plaintiff was confined was not valid and on the ground that the writ of habeas corpus was not available to test the constitutionality of the plaintiff's trial, conviction or sentence in another state. We have decided to treat these demurrers as the equivalent of motions to quash the writ which was issued. See Kennedy v. Walker, 135 Conn. 262, 265, 63 A.2d 589 affirmed 337 U.S. 901, 69 S.Ct. 1046, 93 L.Ed. 1715. The judge before whom the defendants were required to produce the prisoner sustained the demurrers and certified the proceedings into court. The plaintiff has appealed from the judgment which was rendered upon his failure to plead over.
Examination of the application raises considerable doubt that the writ should have issued. Affirmative allegations showing the deprivation of the plaintiff's legal rights in this state, essential to the issuance of a writ, are lacking. The application should conform generally to a complaint in a civil action. It is a pleading. Scott v. Spiegel, 67 Conn. 349, 358, 35 A. 262; Practice Book & 305 and Form No. 431.
In view of the manner in which the plaintiff has elected to frame and phrase his application, we shall assume, as the lower court did and as the plaintiff in his brief inferentially indicates, that he is a fugitive from justice in the state of Virginia. The application does not...
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Vincenzo v. Warden
...Conn. 737, 740, 157 A. 226 (1931). The deprivation of legal rights is essential before the writ may be issued. McPheters v. Pollard, 146 Conn. 509, 510, 152 A.2d 632 (1959). " 'Questions which do not concern the lawfulness of the detention cannot properly be reviewed on habeas corpus.' " Sa......
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Glavin v. Warden, State Prison
...arises, is designed to test by habeas corpus the legality of the prisoner's arrest under the governor's warrant. See McPheters v. Pollard, 146 Conn. 509, 511, 152 A.2d 632. We have concluded that there is no merit to the claims raised on this appeal as to the validity of the plaintiff's arr......
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Jenkins v. Commissioner of Correction
...corpus is essentially a pleading and, as such, it should conform generally to a complaint in a civil action. McPheters v. Pollard, 146 Conn. 509, 510, 152 A.2d 632 (1959). "The principle that a plaintiff may rely only upon what he has alleged is basic.... It is fundamental in our law that t......
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Arey v. Warden, Connecticut Correctional Inst.
...1740 (1949). In recent years the application has come to be regarded as a pleading in the nature of a complaint; McPheters v. Pollard, 146 Conn. 509, 510, 152 A.2d 632 (1959); and the return in the nature of an answer. The pleadings in this case are so framed. Once the issues have been join......