Morse v. United States, s. 597

• Decision Date: 02 February 1925
• Docket Number: 598,Nos. 597,s. 597
• Parties: MORSE v. UNITED STATES (two cases)
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

267 U.S. 80

45 S.Ct. 209

69 L.Ed. 522

MORSE

v UNITED STATES (two cases).

Nos. 597, 598.

Argued Jan. 9, 1925.

Decided Feb. 2, 1925.

Mr. Nash Rockwood, of New York City, for appellants.

Mr. Assistant Attorney General Donovan, for the United States.

Mr. Justice SUTHERLAND delivered the opinion of the Court.

Appellants, under indictment in the District of Columbia, while passing through New York on February 6, 1923, on their way to Washington for trial, were arrested and taken from the train by a United States marshal upon bench warrants issued on federal indictments found in New York charging them with fraudulent uses of the mails. Previously, their removal to New York from Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively, for trial under these indictments had been sought under section 1014, Rev. Stats. (Comp. St. § 1674). The removal of Harry F. Morse from Connecticut had been granted by the commissioner, but, upon habeas corpus proceedings, he had been discharged from custody by the Connecticut federal District Court for want of probable cause, principally on the ground that the New York indictment was insufficient to charge a criminal offense (287 F. 906), although the New York court had previously held it good. The proceedings for the removal of Benjamin W. Morse from Massachusetts were still pending before the commissioner at the time of the arrest. Both appellants were on bail to answer the District of Columbia indictment. Their case had been peremptorily set for trial on the morning following the arrest, and the effect of it was to prevent their appearance at the time set. Upon these facts, writs of habeas corpus were granted by the federal District Court for the Southern District of New York. After a hearing, the writs were dismissed and these appeals followed.

First. It is contended that the arrest of appellants in New York, while en route to Washington for trial, under the circumstances stated, was arbitrary, unauthorized and illegal, and constituted a violation of the due process of law clause of the Fifth Amendment. The contention is plainly without merit. The principle that when the jurisdiction of a court has attached, it must be respected as exclusive until exhausted, is a rule of comity, having a wide application in civil cases but a limited one in criminal cases. Peckham v. Henkel, 216 U. S. 483, 486, 30 S. Ct. 255, 54 L. Ed. 579. The mutual forbearance which two federal courts having coordinate jurisdiction should exercise to prevent conflicts by avoiding interferences with the process of each other, has 'perhaps no higher sanction than the utility which comes from concord.' Covell v. Heyman, 111 U. S. 176, 182, 4 S. Ct. 355, 358 (28 L. Ed. 390). But this aside, if there be a violation of the rule of comity here, it primarily concerns only the courts or the sovereignty which is their common superior, and cannot avail the appellants indicted for crimes in the different jurisdictions. Moreover, their constitutional rights are not affected; and if there was error in any respect, it is not reviewable on habeas corpus. Peckham v. Henkel, supra, p. 487; Beavers v. Haubert, 198 U. S. 77, 85, 25 S. Ct. 573, 49 L. Ed. 950. And see In re Fox (D. C.) 51 F. 427, 430; United States v. Marrin (D. C.) 170 F. 476, 479-480.

Second. It is urged that the decision of the federal District Court in Connecticut discharging Harry F. Morse was res judicata and conclusively determined (1) that the New York bench warrant was illegally issued and therefore could not be made the basis for the subsequent arrest in New York; and (2) that the indictment was fatally defective. In respect of the first contention, it is enough to say that the warrant upon which the Connecticut arrest was made was that issued by the commissioner and not the New York bench warrant upon which the present arrest was made. The discharge of the prisoner determined that he could not be held upon the process issued by the commissioner. It had nothing to do with the question whether he could be arrested and held in New York upon the process issued by the trial court. See Ex parte Milburn, 9 Pet. 704, 710, 9 L. Ed. 280; Barbee v. Weatherspoon, 88 N. C. 19, 20-22; In re Begerow, 136 Cal. 293, 299, 68 P. 773, 56 L. R. A. 528.

The second contention proceeds upon a complete misconception of the purpose for which the indictment is produced and considered in removal proceedings, and the authoritative effect of the ruling of the commissioner and the court on habeas corpus in respect thereof. The inquiry in such proceedings is whether there is probable cause to believe the prisoner guilty and justify his removal for trial. That inquiry may be made and the prisoner removed to the trial district in advance of indictment or without the production of the indictment if one has been found. Greene v. Henkel, 183 U. S. 249, 260, 22 S. Ct. 218, 46 L. Ed. 177; Pierce v. Creecy, 210 U. S. 387, 403, 28 S. Ct. 714, 52 L. Ed. 1113; United States v. Greene (D. C.) 100 F. 941, 943. The indictment was before the commissioner as evidence for the purpose of establishing or tending to establish the commission of an offense; and the commissioner had authority to pass upon its effect in that aspect only. The court reviewing the action of the commissioner under section 1014 upon habeas corpus was governed by the same rules and its decision was subject to the same limitation. Henry v. Henkel, 235 U. S. 219, 230, 35 S. Ct. 54, 59 L. Ed. 203; Benson v. Palmer, 31 App. D. C. 561, 564, 565, 17 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1247. Neither had authority to determine the sufficiency of the indictment as a pleading. 'The only safe rule is to abandon entirely the standard to which the indictment must conform, judged as a criminal pleading, and consider only whether it shows satisfactorily that the fugitive has been in fact, however inartificially, charged with crime in the State from which he has fled.' Pierce v. Creecy, supra, pp. 401, 402 (28 S. Ct. 718). In Benson v. Henkel, 198 U. S. 1, 12, 25 S. Ct. 569, 571 (49 L. Ed. 919) this court said:

'While we have no desire to minimize what we have already said with regard to the indictment setting out the substance of the offense in language sufficient to apprise the accused of the nature of the charge against him, still it must be...