People ex rel. Hutchinson v. Murphy

• Decision Date: 20 December 1900
• Citation: 188 Ill. 144,58 N.E. 984
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. HUTCHINSON v. MURPHY, Warden.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

188 Ill. 144

58 N.E. 984

PEOPLE ex rel. HUTCHINSON

v.MURPHY, Warden.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 20, 1900.

Habeas corpus by the people, on relation of Henry Hutchinson, against Edward J. Murphy, warden. Writ denied.

1. A petitioner imprisoned under the sentence of a court, having jurisdiction of the person and subject-matter and power to render the judgment, cannot be discharged on habeas corpus for mere irregularities in the proceedings; his remedy being by writ of error.

2. Petitioner was indicted for murder. The verdict recited, “We, the jury, find the defendant * * * guilty in manner and form as charged in the indictment.” The judgment showed in the caption, but not in its body, that the indictment was for murder. Held, on a petition for habeas corpus, alleging that the conviction was void because the verdict and judgment failed to specify the crime, that, as all parts of the record should be read together, the conviction was sufficient; the errors, at the most, being mere irregularities.

3. Where a petitioner for habeas corpus was found guilty of murder by the jury, and judgment rendered against him on the verdict, his objection that the record failed to show an adjudication by the court that he was guilty was untenable, the judgment on the verdict being an adjudication.

A.J. Hanlon, for petitioner. E.C. Akin, Atty. Gen., Charles S. Deneen, State's Atty., and Ferdinand L. Barnett, Asst. State's Atty., for respondent.

WILKIN, J.

This is a petition for habeas corpus by the relator, Henry Hutchinson, to be discharged from confinement in the penitentiary at Joliet. A single ground for that discharge is alleged in the petition, namely, that the judgment of conviction is void-First, because it fails to show on its face that the petitioner was convicted of any crime; and, second, because the verdict of the jury upon which the judgment was entered failed to specify the crime or offense for which he was found guilty. Accompanying the petition is a complete transcript of the proceedings under which the conviction was had. From this, as well as the allegations of the petition, it is shown that on the 15th day of February, 1893, the relator was regularly indicted in the criminal court of Cook county for the crime of murder; that on the 13th of March following he entered his plea of not guilty to that indictment, and on April 28th was put upon his trial, a verdict of guilty being returned against him on the 29th of that month; that afterwards, on the 6th day of July following, motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment having been overruled, judgment of sentence upon the verdict was pronounced against him, and he was thereupon conveyed to the penitentiary. The verdict is in the following language: “We, the jury, find the defendant Henry Hutchinson, alias Sheeny Henry, guilty in manner and form as charged in the indictment, and we fix his punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of his natural life.” The judgment is as follows: “Be it remembered, to wit, on the 6th day of July, in the year last aforesaid, it being the term of court aforesaid, the following among other proceedings were had and entered of record in said court, which said proceedings are in the words and figures following, to wit: ‘The People of the State of Illinois vs. Henry Hutchinson, alias Sheeny Henry. No. 31,718. Indictment for Murder. This day come said people, by Jacob J. Kern, state's attorney, and the said defendant, as well in his own proper person as by his counsel, also comes; and now, neither the said defendant nor his counsel for him saying anything further why judgment of the court should not be pronounced against him on the verdict of guilty heretofore rendered in the indictment of this cause, therefore it is ordered and adjudged by the court that the said defendant, Henry Hutchinson, alias Sheeny Henry, be taken from the bar of the court to the common jail of Cook county, from whence he came, and from thence by the sheriff of Cook county to the penitentiary of this state at Joliet, and be delivered to the warden or keeper of said penitentiary; and the said warden or keeper is hereby required and commanded to take the body of the said defendant, Henry Hutchinson, alias Sheeny Henry, and confine him in said penitentiary, in safe and secure custody, for and during the term of his natural life, from and after the delivery thereof, at hard labor. It is further ordered that the said d...