Moore, In re

• Decision Date: 01 July 1974
• Citation: 2 Mass.App.Ct. 399,313 N.E.2d 893
• Parties: In re Norma MOORE, Petitioner.
• Court: Appeals Court of Massachusetts

Page 893

313 N.E.2d 893

2 Mass.App.Ct. 399

In re Norma MOORE, Petitioner.

Appeals Court of Massachusetts, Plymouth.

Argued Feb. 15, 1974.

Decided July 1, 1974.

Lawrence D. Shubow, Boston, for plaintiff.

Barbara A. H. Smith, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the Commonwealth.

Before ROSE, GOODMAN and GRANT, JJ.

ROSE, Justice.

This case involves a petition for a writ of habeas corpus brought by a person arrested under the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act which has been enacted by Massachusetts with minor variations and is found in G.L. c. 276 §§ 11--20R, as appearing in St.1937, c. 304, § 1. The petitioner was arrested pursuant to a rendition demand filed by the Governor of California which was based on a California information charging the petitioner with five counts of burglary. The petitioner has appealed from, and taken exception to, the denial of her petition and has further excepted to the denial of certain of her requests for rulings.

1. The first group of exceptions argued by the petitioner concerns the Governor of California's alleged failure to comply with the provisions of G.L. c. 276 § 14, ¹ and 18 U.S.C. § 3182. ² The petitioner reads §§ 14 and 3182 to require that a demand for rendition based on a criminal information be accompanied by an affidavit containing facts which would support a finding of probable cause against the person whose rendition is sought. (See Raftery v. Bligh, 55 F.2d 189, 194 (1st Cir. 1932), decided under the predecessor of § 3182; cf. In re Fritz, 137 N.J.Eq. 185, 188, 44 A.2d 414 (1945); People v. Skinner, 284 App.Div. 770, 772, 135 N.Y.S.2d 107 (N.Y.1954)) and argues that a showing of probable cause is required in any event by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. See Kirkland v. Preston, 128 U.S.App.D.C. 148, 385 F.2d 670, 675--676 (1967). It is the petitioner's contention that the affidavits filed in the case at bar were not sufficient to support such a finding.

An examination of California practice reveals that an information may be filed against an accused only after he has been examined and a finding of probable cause has been made by a magistrate. See California Constitution, art. 1, § 8; Parks v. Superior Court, 38 Cal.2d 609, 611, 241 P.2d 521 (1952). The examination provided for by California law is held pursuant to a written complaint filed in court. Wilson v. Harris, 351 F.2d 840, 843 (9th Cir. 1965), cert. den., 383 U.S. 951, 86 S.Ct. 1213, 16 L.Ed.2d 213 (1966). The accused is entitled to the assistance of counsel at the examination (California Constitution, art. 1, § 8) and has the right to cross-examine prosecution witnesses and to present witnesses in his own behalf. Jones v. Superior Court, 4 Cal.3d 660, 667, 94 Cal.Rptr. 289, 483 P.2d 1241 (1971), and cases cited. If it appears from the examination that the offense charged has been committed and that there is probable cause to believe the accused guilty thereof, the magistrate orders the accused held for trial, in which event an information is filed against him; otherwise, the accused is discharged. See Wilson v. Harris, supra.

The California process described above differs substantially from the procedure employed in other jurisdictions. In those states which permit prosecution by information it is typically 'a written accusation of crime preferred by a public prosecuting officer without the intervention of a grand jury.' Anderson, Wharton's Criminal Law and Procedure, § 1723. 41 Am.jur.2d, Indictments and Informations, § 1. See People v. Bessenger, 273 App.Div. 19, 23, 75 N.Y.S.2d 392 (N.Y.1947). In light of the nature of the usual criminal information, the reason for the affidavit requirements embodied in §§ 14 and 3182 is clear: since an information is customarily not based on a finding of probable cause, an affidavit is necessary to furnish 'some proof of the probable guilt of the accused . . . (and) to prevent his removal on unfounded accusations.' See In re Fritz, supra, 137 N.J.Eq. at 188, 44 A.2d at 416. That purpose is served in California by the requirement that an information be filed pursuant to a judicial determination of probable cause.

We are of the opinion that the term 'information' as used in G.L. c. 276, § 14, refers to the practice, common in a number of states, of intiating criminal prosecutions on the bare accusation of a public official, and not to the more rigorous process employed by the State of California in the case at bar. We hold that California's information procedure includes all the safeguards which the affidavit requirements of G.L. c. 276, § 14, and 18 U.S.C. § 3182 were intended to provide and consequently, that supporting affidavits were not required in the circumstances of the case at bar. Finally, because the issuance of the present information was necessarily predicated upon a prior judicial finding of probable cause, the California demand met such requirements as may exist by virtue of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

2. The petitioner also argues, in support of certain of her exceptions, that the Governors of California and Massachusetts acted illegally when they added to the demand for rendition and to the Massachusetts arrest warrant aliases which did not appear in the original California information. ³ It is settled, as the authorities cited by the petitioner confirm, that 'the name in the warrant is immaterial if the person arrested is, in fact, the identical person indicted or intended to be charged in the demanding state, the only effect of such an . . . unauthorized . . . (insertion) being to shift the burden of proof to the respondent as to identity.' People v. Meyering, 358 Ill. 589, 594, 193 N.E. 495, 497 (1934). See also Poulin v. Bonenfant, 251 A.2d 436, 440 (Me.1969). Since under Massachusetts practice the burden of proof on the issue of identity rests in any event with the Commonwealth (see Baker, petitioner, 310 Mass. 724, 731, 732, 39 N.E.2d 762 (1942), cert. den. sub nom., Baker v. Delay, 316 U.S. 699, 62 S.Ct. 1297, 86 L.Ed. 1768 (1942)), the only consequence of the addition of aliases by the Governors was to deprive the Commonwealth of the benefit of whatever inferences could have been drawn from an identity of names in the documents. See, e.g., Baker, petitioner, supra, 310 Mass. at 731, 39 N.E.2d 762. That the burden of proof as to identity in this case was on the respondent is confirmed by the petitioner's fifth request for a ruling of law, which was granted by the judge. ⁴

The petitioner contends, finally, that the judge's implied...