State v. Kealy

• Decision Date: 07 October 1893
• Citation: 89 Iowa 94,56 N.W. 283
• Parties: STATE v. KEALY.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

89 Iowa 94

56 N.W. 283

STATE

v.KEALY.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Oct. 7, 1893.

Appeal from district court, Jones county; James D. Giffen, Judge.

This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment in a criminal prosecution upon an indictment charging him with the crime of forging a promissory note.John S. Welch, for appellant.

John Y. Stone, Atty. Gen., and Thos. A. Cheshire, for the State.

ROTHROCK, J.

The defendant was indicted for the crime of obtaining money under false pretenses. After the crime was committed, he left this state, and went to the state of New York. A requisition was made upon the governor of that state for the extradition of the defendant, upon the ground that he had been indicted in this state, and he was returned to this state in pursuance of the requisition. After he was brought to this state, and while he was in custody under that indictment, he was indicted for forging a promissory note. When he was brought into court on the last indictment, he made a motion to be discharged from restraint on the indictment for forgery, on the ground that he was not extradited on that charge, and that, being in restraint on the first charge, he could not be required to plead to the second indictment, nor could he be restrained of his liberty by reason thereof, he never having had any opportunity to return to the state of New York. The court overruled the motion, and required the defendant to plead to the indictment. A plea of guilty was entered, and the defendant was sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for two years. It appears from the abstract in the case that the two indictments were founded upon wholly different and distinct charges, and, as we understand it, they did not involve the same transaction. The record does not show what disposition was made of the indictment for obtaining money under false pretenses. It is stated in argument that defendant was sentenced to imprisonment for one year on that charge.

The question presented for decision is stated by counsel for appellant in the following language: “Can a party taken from one country or state to another, upon proceedings of extradition, legally be held to answer to another and different offense than that upon which he was so extradited, without being given an opportunity to return to the state of his asylum?”

This case does not involve any question of international extradition. The defendant's removal from the state of New York to this state was not procured by any fraudulent pretense or representation made to him for the purpose of bringing him within the jurisdiction of our courts. It is provided by section 2, art. 4, of the constitution of the United States, that “a person charged in any state with treason, felony or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another state, shall on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled be delivered up to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.” There was no abuse of this constitutional provision in this case. Extradition was not resorted to as a means of procuring the presence of the defendant in this state for the purpose of serving him with process in a civil action. There can be no question that the grand jury of Jones county, in this state, had the power to find the second indictment...