Walsh v. Archer

Citation73 F.2d 197
Decision Date22 October 1934
Docket NumberNo. 7518.,7518.
PartiesWALSH v. ARCHER.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)

Loyd L. Lavender, of Long Beach, Cal., for appellant.

J. Charles Dennis, U. S. Atty., of Seattle, Wash., Owen P. Hughes, Asst. U. S. Atty., of Tacoma, Wash., and Peirson M. Hall, U. S. Atty., and Ernest R. Utley, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of Los Angeles, Cal., for appellee.

Before WILBUR, SAWTELLE, and GARRECHT, Circuit Judges.

SAWTELLE, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington dismissing appellant's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The petition discloses that on November 10, 1933, appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree, following indictment and trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, hereinafter referred to as the trial court, and was imprisoned for life and is now in the custody of appellee serving said sentence. The murder was alleged to have been committed on the high seas, on board the vessel Johanna Smith II, and within the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.

Sections 272 and 273 of the Criminal Code (18 USCA §§ 451, 452) provide:

"Section 451. (Criminal Code, section 272.) Places and Waters Applicable; on Board American Vessel on High Seas or Great Lakes; on Land Under Exclusive Control of United States; Guano Islands. The crimes and offenses defined in this chapter shall be punished as herein prescribed:

"First. When committed upon the high seas, or on any other waters within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States and out of the jurisdiction of any particular State, or when committed within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States and out of the jurisdiction of any particular State on board any vessel belonging in whole or in part to the United States or any citizen thereof, or to any corporation created by or under the laws of the United States, or of any State, Territory, or District thereof. * * *

"§ 452. (Criminal Code, section 273.) Murder; First Degree; Second Degree.

"Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Every murder perpetrated by poison, lying in wait, or any other kind of willful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated killing; or committed in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate, any arson, rape, burglary, or robbery; or perpetrated from a premeditated design unlawfully and maliciously to effect the death of any human being other than him who is killed, is murder in the first degree. Any other murder is murder in the second degree. * * *"

The petition for habeas corpus is based on the ground that at the time of the commission of the crime for which petitioner was convicted, the said vessel, Johanna Smith II, was within the state of California and within the jurisdiction of the courts of the state of California, and not within the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.

The petition alleges "that on the date of the commission of the homicide for which your petitioner stands convicted of and imprisoned for murder, to-wit, on or about the said 20th day of September, 1933, the said vessel was located and situated on and upon the waters of San Pedro Bay, State of California, three and nine-tenths (3.9) nautical miles from the nearest point of land of the coast of the State of California, to-wit, the White Stack site in the City of Seal Beach, State of California; that the seaward boundary of the said San Pedro Bay is a line drawn from Point Firmin to Point Lasuen (the Western limit of the present City of Huntington Beach, State of California); that all waters shoreward from the said line drawn from the said Point Firmin to the said Point Lasuen, and all waters seaward from the said Point Lasuen, and all waters seaward from the said line for a distance of three (3) miles therefrom, are a part of and within the jurisdiction of the State of California, and are not a part of the high seas; that on the said date of the said commission of the said homicide the said vessel was located and situated shoreward from the said line from the said Point Firmin to the said Point Lasuen, and therefore within the State of California and not upon the high seas, and not within the jurisdiction of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of California, or any other District Court of the United States, or any Federal Court whatsoever;" and that testimony was taken at the trial relating to the position of the vessel at the time the homicide was committed.

Attached to the petition are excerpts from the court's instructions to the jury, in which the court stated:

"It is the province of the Jury to determine whether or not the crime charged in this case was committed on the high seas or within the jurisdiction of the State of California. If you find this crime to have been committed within the State of California then this Court has no jurisdiction and you should so find.

"If you find the crime was committed on the high seas then you will consider the case on its merits and the other instructions submitted to you.

"There is no evidence before you except that given by the Government as to the location of the Johanna Smith II on September 20, 1933, the date the crime is alleged to have been committed.

"Therefore, the only question for you to determine in this regard is whether or not the evidence shows the Johanna Smith II to have been situated in the Pacific Ocean beyond the boundary of the State of California.

"The determination of the boundaries of the State of California is a matter for the court and I will now instruct you as to where you are to consider those boundaries. The Constitution of the State of California provides that the boundary of the said state on the Pacific Ocean shall extend three English miles into the Pacific Ocean, paralleling the coast.

"For the purpose of making the description of this boundary more understandable I will define and describe the coast line for you, and you shall then consider the boundary line of the State of California as extending three English miles beyond said coast line into the Pacific Ocean. The coast line where there is no bay means the shoreline. Where a bay indents the coast line, the coast line is considered to extend from headland to headland of said bay, leaving the jurisdiction of the state three miles beyond a line drawn between such two headlands. In the present case a peculiar situation arises in that the indentation at San Pedro is not describable as an ordinary bay, in that only one headland exists. However, the bay has been referred to as such and recognized as such for some time, and in fact is now used as a refuge for shipping.

"Due to the fact that there is only one headland, I hereby instruct you that you shall consider the bay as extending from Point Firmin in a...

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11 cases
  • Carmen, Application of
    • United States
    • California Supreme Court
    • 2 d5 Agosto d5 1957
    ...44 S.Ct. 360, 68 L.Ed. 759; In re Lincoln, 202 U.S. 178, 26 S.Ct. 602, 50 L.Ed. 984; Walsh v. Johnston, 9 Cir., 115 F.2d 806; Walsh v. Archer, 9 Cir., 73 F.2d 197; Archer v. Heath, 9 Cir., 30 F.2d 932; United States v. Lair, 10 Cir., 195 F. 47. Certain of the cited federal cases involved pe......
  • Petition of Carmen
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of California
    • 12 d5 Setembro d5 1958
    ...9 Cir., 1944, 144 F.2d 862; Hatten v. Hudspeth, 10 Cir., 1938, 99 F.2d 501; Walsh v. Johnston, 9 Cir., 1940, 115 F.2d 806; Walsh v. Archer, 9 Cir., 1934, 73 F.2d 197; Ex parte Savage, C.C.Kan., 1908, 158 F. ...
  • State ex rel. Du Fault v. Utecht
    • United States
    • Minnesota Supreme Court
    • 27 d5 Julho d5 1945
    ...361, 68 L.Ed. 759. See, also, Henry v. Henkel, 235 U.S. 219, 229, 35 S.Ct. 54, 57, 59 L.Ed. 203. On the same principle, in Walsh v. Archer, 9 Cir., 73 F.2d 197, where indictment charged murder committed on board a vessel on the high seas, the court affirmed an order dismissing a petition fo......
  • Bowen v. Johnston
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • 30 d1 Janeiro d1 1939
    ...361, 68 L.Ed. 759. See, also, Henry v. Henkel, 235 U.S. 219, 229, 35 S.Ct. 54, 57, 59 L.Ed. 203. On the same principle, in Walsh v. Archer, 9 Cir., 73 F.2d 197, where the indictment charged murder committed on board a vessel on the high seas, the court affirmed an order dismissing a petitio......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

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