United States v. George Cadarr

• Decision Date: 03 April 1905
• Docket Number: No. 438,438
• Citation: 197 U.S. 475,25 S.Ct. 487,49 L.Ed. 842
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Petitioner , v. GEORGE E. CADARR, Edward Parker, John J. Keating, and John N. Myers
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

197 U.S. 475

25 S.Ct. 487

49 L.Ed. 842

UNITED STATES, Petitioner,

v GEORGE E. CADARR, Edward Parker, John J. Keating, and John N. Myers.

No. 438.

Argued February 28, March 1, 1905.

Decided April 3, 1905.

Assistant Attorney General McReynolds and Mr. William R. Harr for petitioner.

Mr. H. Prescott Gatley for respondents.

Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court:

The respondents were indicted for conspiracy in the supreme court of the District of Columbia on March 31, 1902. On April 4, 1902, Cadarr, Keating, and Myers were arraigned, and entered pleas of not guilty. On April 7, 1902, Parker entered a plea of not guilty; on May 1, 1902, he withdrew this plea, and filed a motion to quash. The ground of this motion was that the indictment was not returned to the court within nine months from the 25th day of April, 1901, on which day the defendants were held to bail to await the action of the grand jury on the charge of conspiracy, the time for taking action in the case not having been extended by the court or any judge thereof, as provided in § 939 of the act to establish a code for the District of Columbia, approved March 3, 1901. The motion was sustained, and it was directed that Parker's bail be discharged, and all the defendants were allowed to go without day.

Upon appeal by the United States, the court of appeals affirmed this judgment. Thereupon this writ of certiorari was granted.

This case raises the question whether § 939 of the Code of the District of Columbia is intended to bar further prosecution of crimes and offenses where the grand jury has failed to act thereon within the period named in the statute, or whether the failure to take such action is intended to and does end further prosecution, so as to discharge the accused from bail, or from imprisonment, in cases of commitment. The supreme court, whose judgment was sustained by the court of appeals, construed the statute as one of limitations, and held that failure to take action within the period limited was a final bar to further prosecution. The section directly involved is number 939 of the District of Columbia Code, and is as follows:

'Sec. 939. Abandonment of prosecution.—If any person charged with a criminal offense shall have been committed or held to bail to await the action of the grand jury, and within nine months thereafter the grand jury shall not have taken action on the case, either by ignoring the charge or by returning an indictment into the proper court, the prosecution of such charge shall be deemed to have been abandoned, and the accused shall be set free, or his bail discharged, as the case may be; Provided, however, That the supreme court of the District of Columbia, holding a special term as a criminal court, or, in vacation, any justice of said court, upon good cause shown in writing, and when practicable, upon due notice to the accused, may, from time to time, enlarge the time for the taking action in such case by the grand jury.' 31 Stat. at L. 1189, 1342, chap. 854.

The general statute of limitations is in force in the District, and is § 1044, Revised Statutes of the United States (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 725), which is as follows:

'No person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense not capital, except as provided in section one thousand and forty-six, unless the indictment is found, or the information is instituted, within three years next after such offense shall have been committed.'

It is the contention of respondents' counsel that § 939 operates as a special statute of limitation for cases within its terms wherein the accused has been arrested and committed to prison or released on bail. On the other hand, the government contends that it is not a statute of limitation, but is intended to limit the time within which the grand jury must act upon a charge upon which the accused has been arrested and committed or admitted to bail. At the common law, and in the absence of special statutes of limitations, the mere failure to find an indictment will not operate to discharge the accused from the offense, nor will a nolle prosequi entered by the government, or the failure of the grand jury to indict. It is doubtless true that in some cases the power of the government has been abused, and charges have been kept hanging over the heads of citizens, and they have been committed for unreasonable periods, resulting in hardship. With a view to preventing such wrong to the citizen, statutes have been passed in many states similar to the one under consideration, in aid of the constitutional provisions, national and state, intended to secure to the accused a speedy trial. These statutes differ so much in purpose and phraseology that we cannot derive much aid from decisions under them in determining the correct construction of the one under consideration. With a few exceptions, they relate to the bringing to trial of the accused after indictment found, and are intended to speed the trial of the cause. Whether the failure to bring on the trial within the time limited shall have the effect of discharging the accused from further prosecution for the crime or offense, or shall operate merely to put an end to the pending prosecution, depends upon the terms used in the different statutes. Generally speaking, where the statute has provided that the discharge shall be from imprisonment or bail, without other language, it has been held not to operate as a statute of limitation. On the other hand, where the statute has provided that the failure to prosecute shall discharge the accused so far as relates to the offense, or from the crime, or he shall be acquitted of the offense charged in the indictment, failure to prosecute has...