Starr v. United States

• Decision Date: 04 January 1897
• Docket Number: No. 389,389
• Citation: 164 U.S. 627,17 S.Ct. 223,41 L.Ed. 577
• Parties: STARR v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

164 U.S. 627

17 S.Ct. 223

41 L.Ed. 577

STARR

v UNITED STATES.

No. 389.

January 4, 1897.

A. H. Garland, for plaintiff in error.

Sol. Gen. Conrad, for the United States.

Mr. Justice WHITE delivered the opinion of the court.

On a former trial for the crime of murder, the plaintiff in error was found guilty and sentenced, and the conviction was by this court reversed. Starr v. U. S., 153 U. S. 614, 14 Sup. Ct. 919. The case is again here, in consequence of a second conviction, to review which a writ of error was sued out.

In the course of the first trial below the accused objected to the admissibility of a certain warrant. The matter was thus stated in the record:

'The Court: If you want to urge this objection [i. e. absence of a seal], I want to know the law you refer to. If you haven't got any law, say so. The court decides that the paper is competent, unless you deny the signature. What do you say as to the signature?

'Mr. Cravens (of counsel for defendant): We do not deny that.

'The Court: Mr. Stenographer, let the record show that the signature to this paper is admitted by counsel for the defendant to be the signature of Stephen Wheeler.

'The Court (to counsel for defendant): Do you admit his office,—that he is United States commissioner for the Western district of Arkansas?

'Mr. Cravens (of counsel for defendant): We do not deny he is a United States commissioner, but we simply make this point: In speaking as such commissioner he must speak with his seal. I am frank enough to state to the court that I am not entirely satisfied about our position myself, but I am under the impression that we are sustained by the law.

'The Court: Mr. Stenographer, let the record show that it is admitted by the counsel for the defendant that Stephen Wheeler was a United States commissioner for the Western district of Arkansas at the time of the issuance of this writ, and is now such commissioner, and the signature to this writ is his signature, but that defendant denies the authenticity of the writ because the commissioner's seal is not on it.

'Mr. Cravens (of counsel for defendant): Yes, sir; that is the point we make on it, and, it being admitted by the court, we save an exception to its admission.'

It was therefore apparent that the objection addressed itself solely to the want of a seal, and not only did not question the capacity of the officer by whom the warrant purported to be issued, but, on the contrary, expressly admitted it. Notwithstanding this fact, when the case was previously here, it was contended in argument that the court below erred in admitting the warrant, not only because it was without a seal, but because the officer by whom it was issued was without capacity to have done so. The question of the want of a seal was held to be untenable, but the frivolous attempt to predicate error because of the want of the capacity of the officer, when such authority was admitted on the face of the record, was deemed unworthy of notice, and was therefore ignored. On the second trial the admission of the warrant was again objected to as follows:

'Mr. W. H. H. Clayton (of counsel for defendant): The ground of objection is, if your honor please, of course, we make no objection to the fact that it has no seal, but we object to it because it does not purport to be issued by any officer authorized to issue a warrant of arrest. The warrant is signed 'Stephen Wheeler, Commissioner U. S. Court, Western District of Arkansas.' The statute of the United States on this subject gives a name to the commissioner who has a right to issue such warrant, and that name is 'Commissioner of the Circuit Court,' and the statute says he shall be called by that name. Now, this writ is issued, not by a commissioner of the circuit court, but by a commissioner of the U. S. Court, Western District of Arkansas.' We say there is no such officer as that who is authorized to issue such a writ. There are commissioners appointed by the district court who have no authority to issue writs, and commissioners of the court of claims have no such right. The commissioner who has the right to issue such a writ is designated by the statute as 'Commissioner of the Circuit Court,' and the statute says that he shall be designated and called by that name. We submit that the writ is not in due form.'

The overruling of this objection is assigned for error.

Passing consideration of the question whether the objections taken to the admissibility of the warrant on the second trial are not concluded by the decision on the previous writ of error, they are manifestly without merit.

The fact that the officer who issued the warrant affixed to his signature the words 'Commissioner United States Court, Western District of Arkansas,' did not affirmatively imply that he was not a commissioner of the circuit court of the United States for the Western district of Arkansas. It is true that section 627 of the Revised Statutes, re-enacting the provisions of early statutes, provides that 'each circuit court may appoint, in different parts of the district for which it is held, so many discreet persons as it may deem necessary, who shall...