Waller v. Jordan, Civil 4459

• Decision Date: 03 November 1941
• Docket Number: Civil 4459
• Citation: 58 Ariz. 169,118 P.2d 450
• Parties: TOM TILLEY WALLER, Appellant, v. LON JORDAN, as Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona; and TED LEWIS, Also Known as CLIFF LEWIS, Sheriff of Burleson County, Texas, and Agent of the Governor and State of Texas, Appellees
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

118 P.2d 450

58 Ariz. 169

TOM TILLEY WALLER, Appellant, v. LON JORDAN, as Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona; and TED LEWIS, Also Known as CLIFF LEWIS, Sheriff of Burleson County, Texas, and Agent of the Governor and State of Texas, Appellees

Civil No. 4459

Supreme Court of Arizona

November 3, 1941

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of the County of Maricopa. Dudley W. Windes, Judge. On appellant's application to be admitted to bail pending his appeal. Application denied.

Mr Jacob Morgan, for Appellant.

Mr Richard F. Harless, County Attorney, and Mr. E. R. Thurman and Mr. Charles B. McAlister, Deputy County Attorneys, for Appellees.

OPINION

ROSS, J.

This is an application for bail pending his appeal from an order of the Superior Court of Maricopa County refusing, in an extradition proceeding, to discharge appellant on a writ of habeas corpus or to allow him bail pending his appeal. The validity of the last order is the only question involved.

It appears from the pleadings that, upon a requisition from the Governor of Texas, the Governor of Arizona has issued an extradition warrant authorizing the return of appellant to the demanding state upon a charge of assault with intent to commit murder and for failure to provide for his wife and minor children.

The appellant alleges that the charges are groundless, not bona fide, and are fraudulent and illegal; that he had not committed said alleged crimes or any crime against the State of Texas. He further alleges that he should be released on bail in order that he might continue to support his wife and minor children at his occupation of railroading. He alleges that his imprisonment is involuntary servitude under the Thirteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution and a form of peonage under the federal laws. Title 18 U.S.C.A., § 421.

The Federal Constitution and the Acts of Congress provide for the process of extradition which means "the surrender by one state... to another of an individual accused or convicted of an offense outside of its own territory, and within the territorial jurisdiction of the other, which, being competent to try and punish him, demands the surrender...." 25 C.J. 254, sec. 1.

The asylum state may pass laws in aid of the federal laws and Constitution and when consistent therewith are valid and should be followed in such proceeding. The state laws usually provide for the arrest and safekeeping of the fugitive until the demanding state has had time to present a proper and legal requisition for the fugitive's return. This state in 1937 for that purpose passed the Uniform Law with reference to extradition. Article 36 (secs. 44-3601 to 44-3630) Arizona Code 1939. Section 44-3618 thereof provides, pending the issuance of an extradition warrant, that "unless the accused give bail as provided in the next section," he shall be committed to jail. The next section (44-3619) reads as follows:

"44-3619. Bail except in capital and life imprisonment cases. -- Unless the offense with which the prisoner is charged is shown to be a capital offense, where the proof is evident or the presumption great, under the laws of the state in which it was committed, the judge or magistrate must admit the person arrested to bail or bond or undertaking, with sufficient sureties, and in such sum as he deems proper, for his appearance before him at a time specified in such bond or undertaking, and for his surrender, to be arrested upon the warrant of the governor."

This section shows that the bail ceases with the arrest of the accused "upon the warrant of the governor."

The next section (44-3620) provides that if the accused is not arrested within the time specified in the warrant of commitment, bond, or undertaking, he may be discharged by the judge or magistrate, or he may be recommitted, or released on bail, and this procedure may be repeated, if necessary, from time to time pending the issuance of the warrant for his arrest and extradition or his discharge from custody.

Appellant makes no question that the offense charged is extraditable and that he is a fugitive from the State of Texas to the State of Arizona, nor does he question the sufficiency of the complaint to set out definitely and accurately the elements of the offense or offenses charged against him. He does not charge that the governor, before issuing his warrant of arrest, failed or refused to hear him and to take into consideration any reasons he might present against being removed to the State of Texas. In such circumstances, we think it should be assumed that the warrant of arrest was properly and legally issued by the governor and that there existed every fact essential to his jurisdiction to act in the premises. 25 Am. Jur. 192, sec. 67.

However, under the statute appellant is entitled to appeal from the order refusing his discharge on the writ of habeas corpus. That statute reads:

"21-1702. Judgments and orders reviewable. -- An appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court from a superior court in the following cases: ...

"7. From an order or judgment on habeas corpus, in which the petitioner may appeal from an order refusing his discharge, and the officer having the custody of the petitioner, or the county attorney on behalf of the state, from an order or judgment discharging the petitioner; if from the latter the court may admit the petitioner to bail pending the appeal."

It will be noticed that if the county attorney on behalf of the state appeals, the court may admit the petitioner to bail pending the appeal. If, however, the petitioner appeals from the order refusing his discharge, the statute is silent as to his right to bail. We think when the legislature in one instance gives the right to bail pending the appeal but fails to give any right to bail in the other instance, it is equivalent to denying the right to bail in the latter case.

Appellant points to section 22, Article II of the state Constitution reading:

"All persons charged with crime shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident or the presumption great."

and insists that it gives him the right to bail pending his appeal, his case not being a capital one. It should be remembered that this provision and all others of our Constitution relating to criminal proceedings have application only to those crimes over which the state authorities have jurisdiction by virtue of their having been committed in the state. Like provisions are found in our criminal procedure, sections 44-401 to 44-411, but the context of these sections of the statute clearly shows that they refer to cases over which the state courts have jurisdiction. For instance, section 44-401 provides:

"When the defendant has been held...